Swift Parrot Identification Guide Australia

Home , Little lorikeet, Musk lorikeet, Rosella, Swift parrot, Trichoglossus

SWIFT PARROT IDENTIFICATION GUIDE AUSTRALIA

Yellow iris (adult)

Bluish face

Long, pointy Purple crown maroon tail

Red undertail coverts

Red face, bordered by yellow

COMMONLY CONFUSED SPECIES Like the Swift Parrot, these five lorikeets nest in tree hollows and feed mainly on nectar and lerp. They will often use the same habitat, and even the same tree, as Swift Parrots. All occur on the mainland, with Musk and Rainbow Lorikeets also in Tasmania.

RAINBOW LORIKEET SCALY-BREASTED LORIKEET MUSK LORIKEET Trichoglossus moluccanus Trichoglossus chlorolepidotus Glossopsitta concinna

Habitat — Woodlands, open for- Habitat — Open forests, woodlands, Habitat — Dry open forests, ests, heaths, urban areas. Expanding urban areas woodlands, orchards, urban range. plantings. Notes — Occurs along east side of Notes — Strikingly colourful lorikeet. NSW and Qld, with small population Notes — Differs from Swift Its underwing pattern and colour around Melbourne. Red beak and Parrot in having long red ear somewhat similar to Swift Parrot, underwing somewhat similar to patches/cheek, and no red on but differs in having yellow on the Swift Parrot, but differs having an wings and tail. Sociable, with undertail. Constantly screeching all green tail and head. Noisy large foraging flocks. Metallic call, particularly in flight. Noisy screeching call. screeching call made when in and sociable, often in large trees and in flight. flocks.

LITTLE LORIKEET PURPLE-CROWNED LORIKEET Glossopsitta pusilla Glossopsitta porphyrocephala

Habitat — Open forests, woodlands, Habitat — Drier open forests, wood- and sometimes urban plantings. land, mallee

Notes — Broadly similar red pattern on Notes — Widespread in Victoria, but head to the Swift Parrot, but lacks blue few records further north. Dark-pur- and yellow colours. Also has no red on ple crown and yellow-red ear patch. In wings, has a short, stubby tail and is flight, underside of chest and abdomen considerably smaller than a Swift Parrot. are pale blue, short all green tail, red Call is a shrill, high-pitched ‘zzit’. Rarely in on underwing like Swift Parrot. Noisy large flocks. call is a short harmonious ‘zit-zit-zit’. Mostly in small flocks.

SIZE COMPARISON

Eastern Rosella Rainbow Lorikeet Red-rumped Parrot Swift Parrot Scaly-breasted Lorikeet Musk Lorikeet Purple-crowned Lorikeet Little Lorikeet 33cm 30cm 24-30cm 23-26cm 24cm 20-23cm 17-19cm 16-18cm INTRODUCTION HABITAT POPULATION DECLINE The Swift Parrot is a medium-sized, fast flying parrot. In summer, they breed in old-growth habitat in Tasmania. All birds then fly across Bass Strait to spend autumn and winter foraging in woodland across the south-eastern Australia mainland. In spring they return to Tasmania.

SCIENTIFIC TITLE Lathamus discolor

SIZE 23-26cm Swift Parrots tend to favour certain types of trees in temperate forest and woodland, but will they will also use trees (particularly large old specimens) in urban and other ‘created’ Long-term monitoring by ecologists and citizen sci- LIFESPAN habitats (e.g. gardens). The tree species favoured on the main- entists shows that the Swift Parrot population is in a ~10 Years land include: perilous decline. The main culprit throughout its range is habi- • Grey Box (Eucalyptus microcarpa) tat loss and fragmentation – both historic and ongoing. POPULATION • White Box (E. albens) <2,000 birds • Yellow Box (E. melliodora) Additional threats on mainland Australia include aggressive • Mugga Ironbark (E. sideroxlyon) and overabundant native nectarivores (like the Noisy Miner), collisions with infrastructure, and altered flowering patterns STATUS • Red Ironbark (E. tricarpa) • Spotted Gum (Corymbia maculata) and lerp availability due to climate change. Critically Endangered • Forest Red Gum (E. tereticornis) • Swamp Mahogany (E. robusta) In Tasmania large hollow-bearing nesting trees continue to be MAIN THREATS lost through logging, and Sugar Gliders (an introduced species While breeding in Tasmania, they are found predominantly in in Tasmania) are now known as a major predator of eggs, nest- Habitat Loss & Predation stands of Blue Gum (E. globulus) or Black Gum (E. ovata). lings and adult birds during the breeding season.

IF YOU SPOT A SWIFT PARROT, CONTACT US:

03 9347 0757 [email protected]

For more information on the Swift Parrot or if you would like to help support our programs visit: www.birdlife.org.au A GUIDE TO IDENTIFYING THE CRITICALLY ENDANGERED SWIFT PARROT

HOW TO FIND A SWIFTY ECOLOGY & MOVEMENT IF YOU SEE A SWIFTY, LET US KNOW Swift Parrots aren’t easy to find, but there are cues that- in With such a vast potential distribution, searches and crease your chances: sightings by birdwatchers are critical to scientific • Look for profusely flowering eucalypts (especially knowledge and conservation of the Swift Parrot. One of the ironbarks, box and spotted gum). best ways to record a sighting is to take a photo, no matter • Search for other nectar-feeders, like lorikeets and small how poor the quality may be. This can allow us to age the birds, honeyeaters. help determine behaviour and identify the habitat they’re • Learn the calls – Swift Parrot calls have a using. Wherever possible, it is also important to document: distinctive loud ‘pip-pip-pip’, particularly as they fly • Date and time of observation off. This is often the only way you will know they • Location (as specific as possible) are there. You can hear the call by visiting here: Core Range • Number of Swift Parrots seen (and/or heard) www.birdlife.org.au/bird-profile/swift-parrot • Behaviour and other species present Secondary Range • The presence of flowering eucalypts, lerp or other food WHAT ARE LERP? sources. Attached to the surface of eucalypt leaves, the small pale dome- The Swift Parrot is a unique nectar-feeding parrot that shaped lerps (< 6mm across and 1-2 mm high) are secreted by annually migrates across Bass Strait from its summer breeding insects called psyllids as a by-product of their leaf-eating life- grounds in Tasmania to ‘overwinter’ in south-eastern mainland CONTACT US ASAP FOLLOWING A SIGHTING: style. Full of sugars and starch, lerps are consumed by Swifties Australia. Some birds fly as far as coastal south-east Qld, making FOR MAINLAND SIGHTINGS whenever and wherever available. the world’s longest known parrot migration. BirdLife Australia Woodland Birds team: [email protected] OR call: 03 9347 0757 On the mainland they preferentially seek eucalypt- dominated temperate woodlands with abundant blos- For more information on the Swift Parrot or if you would like to som or lerp to feed on, but will also use urbanised areas on help our programs visit: occasions. Breeding is tightly linked to flowering of key birdlife.org.au/projects/woodland-birds-for-biodiversity eucalypt species in Tasmania. They are a gregarious species and are often observed in flocks.