Bid to save bird species

Orange-bellied parrots at the Healesville Sanctuary. Picture: JAY TOWNSCAPTIVE birds are expected to be released on a mission to mate in Tasmania this summer, in a bid to save their species from extinction.

There are only 38 known orange-bellied parrots in the wild and their only known breeding site is at Melaleuca on the South-West Coast.

Zoologist Peter Menkhorst, from the Arthur Rylah Institute in Victoria, said an intensive recovery program had been under way since 1983, when there were thought to be about 200 birds in the wild.

The number dropped to just 50 and in 2010 a radical decision was made to place just under half of the known population into captivity.

There are now about 210 parrots in captivity in South Australia, Victoria and a wildlife centre in Taroona.

The small birds are characterised by a small orange patch between their legs, and have green and yellow bodies, with royal blue wings.

Mr Menkhorst said the birds bred over summer in Tasmania, before migrating north for the winter.

While scientists were happy with the number that had survived migration over the past two years, there was concern about in-breeding among the survivors.

About 20 of the parrots in captivity at Taroona have been selected for release if numbers have dwindled even further this year.

They're currently in quarantine, ahead of the breeding season in November.