Common name
Orange-bellied Parrot
Scientific name
Neophema chrysogaster
EPBC status
Critically Endangered
Found in
Tasmania, Victoria, South Australia
Description
The Orange-bellied Parrot is a small ground-feeding bird that migrates between distinct breeding and non-breeding ranges.
It breeds in south-west Tasmania in summer and spends the rest of the year in coastal Victoria and south-eastern South Australia. The migration route includes the west coast of Tasmania and King Island. It’s a long journey for a small parrot, they are approximately 20 cm long and weigh approximately 40 g – a little larger than a budgerigar.
The species naturally depends on tree hollows for breeding, however, all contemporary breeding now occurs in nest-boxes.
Significant, multi-jurisdictional recovery efforts have reduced declines and prevented the extinction of the species.
Key threats
- Degradation and loss of mainland coastal saltmarsh habitat (winter range).
- Small population size and associated loss of genetic diversity.
- Altered fire regimes within the species breeding range reducing the amount of preferred vegetation type.
- Disease (psittacine beak and feather).
Priority actions
- Retain, protect and restore known habitat, particularly saltmarsh in Victoria and South Australia.
- Maintain provision of nest-boxes in Tasmania for the wild population.
- Continue captive breeding and release - adapt methods and timing based on trial results.
- Manage genetics across both wild and captive populations.
- Disease management.
Protecting threatened species
We will be updating these Threatened Species Action Plan profiles to include:
- projects to support species recovery
- information on their trajectory.
Please check back for updates.
Read our Threatened Species Action Plan 2022-2032.
Read more
Further information on this species, including links to conservation planning documents can be found here: Species Profile and Threats database — Orange-bellied Parrot
Sources
The key threats and priority actions come from conservation planning documents and the Action Plan for Australian Birds 2020. We have made some adjustments based on new information. It is not a list of all plausible threats and relevant actions, but a subset of each that are high impact and can be feasibly addressed over the life of the Action Plan to improve trajectories for the priority species.