Captive breeding, January 2013

Breeding aviary, Healesville Sanctuary

What's captive breeding?

The aim of the captive population of Orange-bellied Parrots is to prevent the species' extinction. It supplies birds for release into the wild, and acts as an insurance population. It began in 1985.

In order to quickly increase the captive population, six facilities now breed Orange-bellied Parrots:

•  Taroona captive breeding facility (Tasmania)
•  Healesville Sanctuary (Victoria)
• Adelaide Zoo (South Australia)
• Melbourne Zoo (Victoria)
• Priam Parrot Breeding Centre (NSW)
• Halls Gap Zoo (Victoria)

Private zoo, Moonlit Sanctuary (Victoria), has older birds for display which may or may not breed. 

So how's captive breeding going?
On 7 July 2012, studbook analysis showed the captive population numbered 205. The recovery program aims to have at least 350 birds by 2016/17.

Eggs are being laid at all institutions mentioned above. Chicks are hatching everywhere except Melbourne Zoo and chicks are now fledging at Healesville and Taroona, the two largest breeding facilities.

Taroona - breeding OBPs in the heat
Jocelyn Hockley is Senior Keeper of the Captive Management and Trans location Section of DPIPWE (Tasmania's Department of Primary Industries, Parks, Water and Environment). She oversees the captive OBP program and is the Studbook Keeper and Species Coordinator for the entire captive population. 

According to Ms Hockley, the OBPs at Taroona breeding facility are doing well. The first chicks fledged on Christmas Day and this week, late-laying females hatched chicks.

Hockley says that the recent hot weather affected the birds, especially chicks in the nest. But she is confident about the staff at Taroona.

'They've done an amazing job in ensuring that everything is done to cool the birds down by opening nestboxes up a little, providing fresh food and water in the afternoon and spraying the aviaries. 

'They have also been going back in the early evening once it starts to cool down, to check chicks again and close nestboxes back up for the night. All the chicks appear to be doing well.'

Taroona has more than 20 pairs housed together and also four group aviaries. One aviary has four birds (two male, two female); three aviaries have three birds (one male, two females).

Sources:
Jocelyn Hockley 
Kristy Penrose
Orange-bellied Parrot Recovery Team, Update on the Orange-bellied Parrot Recovery Program, January 2013.

Debbie Lustig

Breeding in the wild: an update

Nineteen chicks and counting

The wild population of Orange-bellied Parrots at Melaleuca now numbers at least 20 adults (including 'first-year birds', which can breed in their first year). They comprise nine females and 11 males.

They began arriving on 1 October 2012, with the last (known) arrival 22 November.

Recent breeding seasons have seen similar numbers, with at least 22 arriving in 2011/12, twenty-one in 2010/11 and twenty-three in 2009/10.

This week 19 chicks from five nestboxes were banded. They are caught as nestlings (before they can fly), leg-banded, weighed, and have blood taken for DNA analysis. Each bird is fitted with bands of a unique colour and letter in order for later identification to be made.

As a total of nine females are known to have arrived and five have bred, it is hoped up to four additional nests have been used by the remaining females.

Chick tries to bite scientist after banding

Silver-coloured leg bands

Review of the year 2012

OBPs on feed table, Melaleuca

The Orange-bellied Parrot year doesn't follow the calendar year; it can be said to begin in spring, when they arrive at their breeding grounds in Tasmania. It ends with the last survey of sites on the mainland in late winter. Nonetheless, some highlights of 2012 can still be outlined. 

The year saw less media attention on OBPs but a concerted campaign by Zoos Victoria helped raise awareness in novel ways. Love Your Locals highlights the plight of 20 south-east Australian vertebrates threatened with extinction, including the Orange-bellied Parrot. Via a website, educational activities, displays of painted, baby elephants, a mural and a tram, the message has slowly expanded.

Another expansion was of captive breeding facilities. Adelaide and Melbourne Zoos, Taroona government breeding facility and Healesville Sanctuary were augmented by Priam Parrot Breeding Centre and Halls Gap Zoo. Moonlit Sanctuary in Pearcedale also received birds, primarily for display. See August and September (below) for details.

January, 2012 began with 22 birds at Melaleuca. Five pairs occupied nest boxes and eventually produced 24 eggs, of which 19 fledged. Of those, 14 juveniles became independent. The minimum wild population presumed to leave Melaleuca by autumn was thus 36.

In captivity, birds breed at these facilities: Adelaide Zoo, Taroona government breeding facility and Healesville Sanctuary. Melbourne Zoo and Priam Parrot Breeding Centre had both been given birds towards the end of 2011, too late to begin breeding in 2011/12.

The following is a subjective list by the author.


January

January sees plenty of activity at Melaleuca. By late 2011, at least twenty-two birds had arrived - nine female, 12 male. Wildcare volunteers are feeding them sprouted canary seed twice a day at the feed table. 

Six are unbanded birds and 15, banded. 

February

Birds begin to migrate north, adults initially then juveniles.

A boat harbour development in Westernport Bay is deemed worthy of assessment under the Environment Protection & Biodiversity Conservation Act, giving rise to 'frustration' for the developer. (The site was once used by OBPs although none have been seen since 1987.)
     Federal opposition politician and local member, Greg Hunt, refers to 'this imaginary parrot'. An environmental assessment is actually required as the harbour lies in the vicinity of a Ramsar site, that is, a wetland of international significance.

March

The Big Issue magazine publishes an article about the OBP in Issue 402, entitled 'Come Fly With Me'.

Birds continue to leave Melaleuca. 

Zoos Victoria commissions street art specialists Everfresh Studios to produce a graffiti mural in AC/DC Lane, Melbourne, highlighting its campaign to fight extinction. (In this video, an Orange-bellied Parrot appears at 2:30 minutes.)

April 

The first sighting of an OBP on passage to the mainland is made at Sea Elephant River, King Island, north-west of Tasmania.

On 11th April at Airey's Inlet, Victoria, Lindy Frost sees an OBP - during her morning tea! The first record for that site, it's also the first bird seen anywhere on the mainland, although not recorded as such until later.

Hedley Earl sees the first two recorded birds on 19 April, at the Western Treatment Plant, near Werribee, Victoria. 

The state government of Victoria cuts funding for public servants, including 10 threatened species officers.

May


Three OBPs take up residence at a well known site in the Western Treatment Plant (WTP). The OBP Recovery Team (OBPRT) asks for birders' cooperation and patience, organising for one access road to be temporarily closed.

The OBPRT meets in Adelaide. On the agenda: discussion of aspects of the recovery planning process and presentation of the full draft of the fifth recovery plan - now under review by government.

Bob Green, south-east South Australia Regional Coordinator, celebrates 12 years of work on the OBP.

June

OBPs on the mainland.

July

John Peter sights two OBPs at Kaarst wetlands near Torquay on July 21, the first record there since 1998.

Four (or possibly five) OBPs in total have been seen at the WTP. Another bird is seen at south-east South Australia and another in western Victoria, near Yambuk. 

August

A new facility receives Orange-bellied Parrots. Halls Gap Zoo, in western Victoria, takes delivery of five pairs to augment the OBP captive breeding program. 
     
208 birds announced in the captive flock.

September


Moonlit Sanctuary in Pearcedale, Westernport Bay, Victoria, receives seven older birds for display, to raise awareness and possibly, to breed. 

The Sunday Age publishes an article, 'A parrot so rare it may need to be captured to survive', which details some of the OBP recovery history in the past few years.

September survey turns up one OBP, across all sites in Victoria and South Australia.

Last winter sighting of an OBP on the mainland on 10 September, near Queenscliff.

Winter sightings total nine.

October

First sighting in Tasmania. An unbanded male OBP arrives at Melaleuca around 1 October, followed by more birds on 4th, 5th, 6th, 12th, 13/14th October. By 29/10, there are 15 birds - 8 males and 7 females.

A release aviary built to acclimatise captive-bred birds at Melaleuca, in preparation for a release.

Zoos Victoria and Yarra Trams launch a 'Love Your Locals' tram, with an OBP featured in the brightly-coloured artwork.

November

Plans for a 2012 release of captive-bred birds shelved. Factors influencing this decision: similar numbers of birds as 2011/12, roughly equal sex ratio, and uncertainties about possible different strains of Psittacine Beak & Feather Disease in captive and wild populations.

More arrivals bring the total of OBPs to 20: 11 males, 9 females.

7.30 Tasmania, the ABC TV current affairs program, films a segment at Melaleuca featuring Mark Holdsworth, Tasmanian coordinator, OBP recovery program. It screens 30/11.


December

Numbers at Melaleuca 20 with an unconfirmed extra, an unbanded male.

Proposal by Hydro Tasmania for a 200-turbine wind farm on King Island, a crucial stopover for OBPs on both northward and southward migration.

Priam Parrot Breeding Centre publishes unique photos showing candling of OBP eggs and a day-old chick.

Four nest boxes at Melaleuca reported occupied; several pairs seen mating at the feeding table at Melaleuca.

Melaleuca scene

Debbie Lustig

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