News

More good news for one of world's rarest birds

Thursday, 10 July 2025

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Orange-bellied Parrots return to mainland in record numbers

18 Critically Endangered Orange-bellied Parrots have already been recorded across coastal south-eastern Australia this season – more than their entire wild population was in 2016.

 

A brightly-coloured male Orange-bellied Parrot is perched on a mossy branch with visible leg bands. It is facing towards the camera, against a dappled grey and green background.
Orange-bellied Parrots are one of the world’s rarest birds – but their population is slowly increasing thanks to ongoing conservation and captive-breeding efforts. Photo by Gary King

 

After another successful breeding season in south-western Tasmania, Critically Endangered Orange-bellied Parrots have arrived on the Australian mainland to spend autumn and winter in coastal south-eastern Australia. Experts predict as many as 172 birds migrated across Bass Strait – the third highest number in over a decade.

Now, work is underway to track their mainland movements, with BirdLife Australia staff and volunteers searching for Orange-bellied Parrots at key sites across thousands of kilometres of coastline to help researchers better understand their movements and habitat preferences.

Every bird counts

Orange-bellied Parrots – also known as OBPs – are among the world’s rarest birds, and one of only three migratory species of parrots. Each autumn, these small birds leave their summer breeding grounds in south-western Tasmania, sometimes travelling more than 1,000 kilometres to spend the non-breeding season in Victoria and South Australia.

There’s a lot we don’t know about their movements while they’re on the mainland and where they forage during the winter – and we can’t protect what we don’t know. With such a small population dispersed across a vast area, locating Orange-bellied Parrots requires a group effort.

Alongside several partner organisations, BirdLife Australia coordinates Orange-bellied Parrot Winter Surveys over several count weekends in May, July and September.

Funded by Nature Glenelg Trust and Victorian and South Australian government agencies, this monitoring program engages and trains community volunteers to detect overwintering birds, while helping researchers identify and better understand Orange-bellied Parrot feeding sites and habitat preferences. This data also helps us track their movements on the mainland and migration survival rates – informing targeted and effective conservation and management efforts.

Habitat destruction and degradation have driven their decline and is still considered the greatest threat to Orange-bellied Parrots today. Coastal saltmarsh, their preferred winter habitat, continues to be drained, destroyed and degraded – and with a wild population of fewer than 200 birds remaining, every winter-feeding site is critical to their survival.

 

Three BirdLife staff members looking through binoculars at a wetland, searching for Orange-bellied Parrots
BirdLife Australia staff searching for OBPs at Port Phillip. Photo by Ryan Kilgower

 

Key sightings: 2025 Orange-bellied Parrot mainland surveys

92 volunteers joined the May Winter Survey weekend, recording 14 Orange-bellied Parrots in coastal Victoria and South Australia.

So far this year, 18 Orange-bellied Parrots have been recorded on the mainland, including a record 13 birds in Port Phillip – the highest count in the region for over 25 years.

All 13 birds (9 males and 4 females) were identified by their unique, coloured leg bands. Of these, 12 were birds born in the wild.

Volunteers also recorded three birds on South Australia’s Narrung Peninsula, while two Orange-bellied Parrots were counted in south-western Victoria – the first sighting in the area in many years.

 

Defying the odds

It’s the latest good news for this Critically Endangered species, following another record-breaking season that saw the highest mainland count in a decade and highest number of birds returning to Melaleuca in 17 years.

Over the 2024–25 breeding season, volunteers also recorded at least 99 fledglings from 24 nest boxes – the highest number of fledglings recorded in the wild since monitoring began in 1993.

Just nine years ago, Orange-bellied Parrots came dangerously close to extinction in the wild when their population plummeted to just 17 birds – but their population is slowly increasing thanks to ongoing conservation and captive-breeding efforts.

 

A brightly-coloured Orange-bellied Parrot perched on a thin branch against a green grassy background, facing to the right of the frame.
Orange-bellied Parrot by Brian Jones

 

Join the search

If you live in coastal south-eastern Australia, we need you!

BirdLife Australia is recruiting volunteers for the upcoming Orange-bellied Parrot Winter Survey Weekends on:

  • 26–27 July
  • 13–14 September

If you’re an intermediate or experienced birdwatcher, we need your help finding OBPs in the following coastal regions:

South Australia:

  • Limestone (South East) Coast

Victoria:

  • Bellarine Peninsula
  • Western Port Bay and Bass Coast
  • South and West Gippsland

Please note that due to a large number of enquiries, we are currently not recruiting for more volunteers at Port Phillip Bay/Western Treatment Plant.

To find the contact details for your regional survey coordinator, visit the OBP Recovery Team website.

Find out more about upcoming Orange-bellied Parrot surveys and report your own sightings here.

Alternatively, please report any OBP sightings with the date, time, location, photos and any leg-band details to obp@birdlife.org.au

Practice ethical birdwatching

With such a small population, our actions can have serious consequences for these Critically Endangered birds.

These shy, elusive parrots are especially sensitive to human disturbance. High levels of traffic and noise can interfere with their foraging and natural behaviour, while people and off-road vehicles can trample and destroy their fragile coastal habitat.

Help keep Orange-bellied Parrots and other threatened species safe by keeping a safe distance to avoid disturbance and not sharing locations of birds on social media. For more information, read our ethical birdwatching guidelines.

 

Find the latest Orange-bellied Parrot news and updates at the Orange-bellied Parrot Recovery Team and Department of Natural Resources and Environment Tasmania OBP team websites.