Forestry defends swift parrot management

Forestry Tasmania says it is working to protect the parrot's habitat.Forestry Tasmania has rejected a claim it is destroying the habitat of the endangered Swift Parrot.

Australian Greens Senator Bob Brown says thousands of hectares of Tasmanian nesting ground is being destroyed each year in the Wielangta Forest.

Forestry Tasmania says it deferred logging a 68 ha coupe when it became aware that Swift Parrots had decided to nest there.

Click to read more ...

Logging blamed for decline in already rare swift parrot

Endangered: The swift parrot. ONE of Australia's rarest and fastest birds, the swift parrot, seems to be plummeting in number, and logging has been blamed.

Click to read more ...

Greens urge PM to save the Swift Parrot

Swift parrot. Image by lizardstomp

Prime Minister Kevin Rudd should intervene personally to save an endangered species of parrot from extinction, the Australian Greens say.

Click to read more ...

Quest to sniff out kakapo scent spans centuries

His name is Felix and he was not an easy capture for his annual condition check (Strigops habroptilus) Photo: Brent BarretFeathers of the flightless kakapo are being flown around the world as part of a Massey biologist’s quest to understand the role of the critically endangered native parrot’s sense of smell and the power of male feather fragrance on breeding behaviour.

Drawing on scientific expertise from Austria and the United States and using kakapo specimens collected in the 1880s now stored in Vienna’s Museum of Natural History, Associate Professor Dianne Brunton along with PhD student Anna Gsell are pursuing a series of research objectives being carried out across the globe to analyse kakapo skulls, bodies and the erotic scent of the males’ feathers.

Dr Brunton, who heads the Institute of Natural Resources’ Ecology and Conservation group at Albany, says it is likely that bird body odour plays a significant role in female kakapo mate choice.

Click to read more ...

Mexico signs law to ban capture and export of Mexican wild parrots

The wild parrot trade is now illigal in MexicoUnprecedented level of protection for Mexico's 22 species of parrots and macaws

Click to read more ...