Orange-Bellied Parrots Winter 2024: key sightings

Innovative nanotagging: monitoring the Parrots’ migration route

Following a record-breaking breeding season at Melaleuca in southwestern Tasmania last summer, Orange-bellied Parrots have migrated across Bass Strait to spend the winter months on the Australian mainland. This year, it is estimated that 188 Orange-bellied Parrots have made the journey north.

With such a small population dispersed across a vast area of coastal southeastern Australia, locating these birds can be a challenging task. To aid in this effort, 46 Orange-bellied Parrots were fitted with electronic nanotags. These tiny devices are being monitored by a new network of towers set up along the estimated migratory route, both in Tasmania (where 20 towers have been installed) and on the mainland (with an additional 6 towers).

The locations of these towers were carefully selected to cover key sites where the birds might pass through or settle during winter. When a tagged bird flies near a tower, its presence is recorded. This data will help us understand the movement patterns of these parrots and provide valuable insights into their ecology, which will inform future conservation efforts. Since Orange-bellied Parrots often travel in flocks, each detection of a tagged bird may also indicate the presence of other untagged birds.

So far in winter 2024, traditional ground searches have uncovered 11 Orange-bellied Parrots on the mainland. Seven of these sightings occurred at the Western Treatment Plant, a known hotspot on the western shores of Victoria’s Port Phillip Bay. Three more were spotted at Lake Connewarre on the Bellarine Peninsula, another common site early in the season. The remaining sighting was on the Narrung Peninsula in South Australia, not far from the mouth of the Murray River, where the species was last recorded in 2021.

With a vast area to cover, we urgently need volunteers to participate in upcoming OBP surveys. If you’re interested in helping us locate these rare birds, get involved.