Plight of the orange-bellied parrot

With fewer than 50 individuals remaining in the wild, spotting this parrot is a rare treat, finds photographer Inger Vandyke.

An older parrot perches near a feeding table in Melaleuca, Tasmania, during light rain. Orange-bellied parrots are a critically engandered species, endemic to Australia and breed only in south-west Tasmania. Credit: Inger Vandyke  ONE A WINDSWEPT walking trail in Tasmaniaʼs south-west, I witnessed a tiny flash of sapphire, gold, green and orange flit across the path in front of me, the brief burst of colour conspicuous against a landscape of fatigue green.

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A plucky parrot that weighs so little, but means so much

The orange-bellied beauty is emblematic as we try to save threatened species. 

Orange-bellied parrot. Image by Tony MorrisTHE last Tasmanian tiger died in Hobart Zoo in 1936. Now another Tasmanian, the orange-bellied parrot, is in poor shape.

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Land added to SA conservation park

Orange-bellied Parrot Photo: Roger SmithMore than 300 hectares of wetlands in South Australia's southeast have been added to a conservation park to protect local wildlife, including an endangered parrot.

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Holding the fate of a species in caring hands

An object of beauty, critically endangered: the orange-bellied parrot in flight. Photo: Justin McManus

THERE are moments when the Tasmanian wilderness achieves pure silence, leaving city ears straining for noise.

Here at Melaleuca, six days' walk from the nearest road, such moments of peace are typically broken by bird calls, including the distinct buzzing of the orange-bellied parrot.

Like many Australian families, orange-bellied parrots reunite every summer at the same idyllic spot by the water. After wintering in coastal Victoria and South Australia, almost every orange-bellied parrot in the wild comes back to Melaleuca to breed.

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Mystery virus threatens an already critically endangered Australian parrot species

Orange-bellied parrots. photo credit: David Boyle/National GeographicThe orange-bellied parrot (Neophema chrysogaster), one of the world’s most critically endangered birds, could lose its bid at survival as a virus threatens its vitally important captive breeding program.

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