The swift parrot, Lathamus discolor, is a small, fast-flying bird native to southeastern Australia. This parrot is recognized for its vibrant colors and active nature, often seen in flocks. Found across various eucalypt forests and woodlands, it is a highly mobile species that moves in response to the availability of its food sources. This remarkable bird represents a unique part of Australia’s avian diversity.
Physical Characteristics and Habitat
The swift parrot is a slender, medium-sized parrot, about 25 centimeters (10 inches) long, with long, pointed wings and tail. Its body is primarily bright green, complemented by a crimson forehead and throat. Red patches also appear on its face (above and below the beak) and at the bend of its wings, with a dark blue crown.
Females have slightly duller plumage than males and a creamy bar under their wings. In flight, its bright green body, dark flight feathers, and scarlet underwing coverts create a striking display. They are endemic to southeastern Australia, inhabiting dry sclerophyll forests, woodlands, and some suburban areas with flowering trees. Their distribution spans Tasmania and southeastern mainland Australia, including Victoria and New South Wales.
Unique Migratory Behavior
The swift parrot is one of few parrot species globally that undertakes an annual migration. Each year, the entire population travels from its Tasmanian breeding grounds to foraging areas on the southeastern Australian mainland. This journey, up to 5,000 kilometers, involves crossing the Bass Strait.
Migration typically begins in autumn (February or March) as birds depart Tasmania. They disperse across mainland Australia, including Victoria, New South Wales, the Australian Capital Territory, and sometimes southern Queensland and South Australia, seeking winter food resources. This nomadic movement links directly to the unpredictable flowering patterns of eucalypt trees, their primary food source, ensuring sufficient nectar and pollen throughout the non-breeding season.
Breeding and Diet
Swift parrots are primarily nectar feeders, relying on nectar and pollen from flowering Eucalyptus species. In Tasmania, breeding habitat selection ties closely to the availability of flowering Tasmanian blue gum (Eucalyptus globulus) and black gum (Eucalyptus ovata). These eucalypt species provide the main food source during their breeding season.
The breeding season (September to January, sometimes into February) coincides with the peak flowering of these gums in Tasmania. Swift parrots nest exclusively in tree hollows of mature eucalypts, often near foraging resources. While they may reuse nesting sites, specific breeding locations vary annually, dictated by the unpredictable distribution and intensity of blue gum and black gum flowering.
Threats and Conservation Status
The swift parrot is listed as Critically Endangered under Australian Commonwealth and Tasmanian legislation. Its population is estimated at 300 to 1,000 mature individuals, with a continuing decline. This decline is primarily attributed to habitat loss and predation.
Extensive habitat loss and degradation, particularly of old-growth forests in Tasmania, have reduced food sources and nesting hollows. This loss is largely due to tree clearing for agriculture, urban development, and timber harvesting. An additional threat emerged with the introduction of sugar gliders (Petaurus breviceps) to Tasmania. These nocturnal marsupials prey on nesting female swift parrots, their eggs, and chicks. Studies show sugar gliders impacting up to 64% of nests and causing the death of up to 27.6% of breeding females annually on the Tasmanian mainland.
Conservation efforts are underway to address these threats, including protecting remaining forest habitats and managing sugar glider populations. Researchers are deploying nest boxes and predator exclusion devices in breeding areas, and monitoring flowering patterns to predict breeding locations. The goal is to stabilize and reverse the population decline, ensuring the long-term survival of this unique migratory parrot.