SPECIES PROFILE
Yellow-bibbed Lory Lorius chlorocercus
Photo: Yellow-bibbed Lory Lorius chlorocercus
February 2016
Department of Primary Industries, Parks, Water and Environment Natural and Cultural Heritage Division Department of Primary Industries, Parks, Water and Environment 2016 Information in this publication may be reproduced provided that any extracts are acknowledged.
This publication should be cited as: DPIPWE (2016) Species Profile: (Lorius chlorocercus). Department of Primary Industries, Parks, Water and Environment, Hobart, Tasmania.
About this Species Profile This Species Profile is developed in accordance with the Policy and Procedures for the Import, Movement and Keeping of Vertebrate Wildlife in Tasmania (DPIPWE 2011), pursuant to S32 of the Nature Conservation Act 2002.
For more information about this Pest Risk Assessment, please contact: Wildlife Management Branch Department of Primary Industries, Parks, Water and Environment Address: GPO Box 44, Hobart, TAS. 7001, Australia. Phone: 1300 386 550 Email: [email protected] Visit: www.dpipwe.tas.gov.au
Disclaimer The information provided in this Species Profile is provided in good faith. The Crown, its officers, employees and agents do not accept liability however arising, including liability for negligence, for any loss resulting from the use of or reliance upon the information in this Species Profile and/or reliance on its availability at any time.
Species Profile: Yellow-bibbed Lory [Lorius chlorocercus] 2/9 Introduction
NAME AND TAXONOMY Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Chordata Class: Aves Order: Psittaciformes Family: Psittaculidae Genus: Lorius Species: chlorocercus Sub-species or variety: A monotypic species – having no subspecies. Common names: Yellow-bibbed Lory Known hybrids: Hybridisation of Lories can occur with birds kept in captivity. No instances of hybridisation were observed in the literature with other wild bird species. Close relatives: The genus Lorius is a genus of lorikeet containing six species that are distributed from the Moluccas in Indonesia through New Guinea to the Solomon Islands.
DESCRIPTION The yellow-bibbed lory is endemic to the eastern Solomon Islands, where its natural habitats are subtropical and tropical moist lowland and montane forests. Adult Yellow-bibbed Lories are 28 cm in height, mostly red with black on top of the head and green wings. They have a yellow transverse band on upper chest and a crescent-shaped black patch on each side of the neck. They have blue/green thighs and dark-grey legs, with an orange-red beak, dark-grey eye rings and orange irises. Under its wings the bird has blue feathers. Males are usually larger in mass (maximum of 225 grams) compared to females (maximum of 174 grams).
The juveniles have a yellow band on the chest while any markings on sides of the fore neck are minimal or absent. Thighs are notably washed with green. The bill is brown, while the eye ring is grey/white, while eye brown.
Both adult sexes are generally bright red; black forehead; crescent-shaped blue/black patch on each side of fore neck; upper breast has wide yellow band; purple/blue thighs; green wings; underwing stripe pink/red; red tail with wide green tips. The bill is orange/red, the eye ring dark grey, while eye orange.
Species Profile: Yellow-bibbed Lory [Lorius chlorocercus] 3/9 The call of the Yellow-bibbed Lory is shrieking and harsh. However, during feeding the species emits soft chattering. There is no record of the Yellow-bibbed Lory as an environmental or agricultural pest. The Yellow-bibbed Lory is currently not listed on the ‘List of Specimens Taken to be Suitable for Live Import (29/11/2001)’ made under section 303EB of the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999. The Yellow-bibbed Lory is held by collectors in the United States but only as recently as the early 1990s. The species was originally imported from the Solomon Islands. The species is bred and sold in Queensland. Two other species profiles have been prepared for Lories; the Black Capped and Yellow-bibbed Lories.
CONSERVATION AND LEGAL STATUS
CONSERVATION STATUS The Yellow-bibbed Lory is not globally threatened and is listed as least concern by the IUCN. The population trend appears to be stable. The species is not listed on the CITES1 Trade Database.
LEGAL STATUS AUSTRALIA The Yellow-bibbed Lory is not listed under the Commonwealth Environment Protection and Biodiversity Act 1999. In Tasmania the Yellow-bibbed Lory is currently listed as a controlled animal under the Nature Conservation Act 2002.
BIOLOGY AND ECOLOGY
LIFE HISTORY Yellow-bibbed Lories generally live to between 15 and 25 years of age. The difficulty of breeding Yellow- bibbed Lories is considered moderate. Yellow-bibbed Lories generally produce two clutches per year, each with two eggs (30.0 x 24.0mm). Incubation takes approximately 25 days. Young fledge between 10 - 11 weeks. Little is known about the breeding of the species in the wild. No information was found regarding the age at which breeding ceases, although some Lories have been known to lay fertile eggs at age of twenty. It is not known if females can store sperm as some bird species are able to.
1 Convention in International Trade in Endangered Species – web link
Species Profile: Yellow-bibbed Lory [Lorius chlorocercus] 4/9 HABITAT REQUIREMENTS AND PREFERENCES
Yellow-bibbed Lories are found up to 1000m in altitude in forest canopy and secondary growth and also around coconut plantations.
The habitat of the Yellow-bibbed Lory in Solomon Islands is a tropical moist forest biome. The average annual temperature is 26 degrees Celsius, with average lows of 23 and highs of 30 degrees Celsius. Average annual precipitation is 3290 mm (World Climate Charts).
Yellow-bibbed Lories are often seen singly, in pairs or in groups of up to 10 individuals. They are known to be relatively approachable even in the wild. When feeding in the forest canopy they are notably quite.
NATURAL GEOGRAPHIC RANGE The Yellow-bibbed Lory is endemic to the eastern Solomon Islands, where its natural habitats are subtropical and tropical moist lowland and montane forests. The natural range of the Yellow-bibbed Lory is less than 20,000 km2.
INTRODUCED GEOGRAPHIC RANGE While many thousand birds have believed to have been taken from the wild for illegal trade little is recorded about introduced populations and no records were found that mentioned feral establishments or hybridisation of wild populations.
POTENTIAL DISTRIBUTION IN TASMANIA Using a model developed by the Bureau of Rural Science (DAFF) the potential Australian distribution (shown in Figure 1) was extrapolated. Modelling indicates that Tasmania’s climate is highly dissimilar and the model produced the lowest climate match score possible, being ‘0’. Because the natural distribution of the Yellow-bibbed Lory is very different to the climate of Tasmania the potential for this species to establish in Tasmania appears highly unlikely.
Species Profile: Yellow-bibbed Lory [Lorius chlorocercus] 5/9 Figure 1 Climate match results showing the potential geographic distribution of the Yellow- bibbed Lory (Lorius chlorocercus), in Tasmania. (Source: CLIMATCH – http://data.daff.gov.au:8080/Climatch/climatch.jsp)
DIET AND FEEDING BEHAVIOUR In the wild, Lories eat: insects and insect larvae, most flowers parts, seeds and fruit. In captivity Lories will eat a wide variety of fruits and vegetables including: apples, pomegranates, papaya, grapes, cantaloupe, pineapple, figs, kiwi, corn-on-the-cob and flowers such as pansies, nasturtiums, roses, hibiscus, marigolds, and dandelions. When feeding in the forest canopy they are notably quite.
Species Profile: Yellow-bibbed Lory [Lorius chlorocercus] 6/9 SOCIAL BEHAVIOUR AND GROUPINGS Yellow-bibbed Lories are often seen singly, in pairs or in groups of up to 10 individuals. They are known to be relatively approachable even in the wild. Little was found on the social behavior of the Yellow-bibbed Lory although a common theme was that they like to mimic a broad array of sounds, including the human voice. This indicates that they are relatively intelligent and similar to other Lory species.
NATURAL PREDATORS AND DISEASE Potential predators of the Yellow-bibbed Lory in Tasmania would include brown goshawk, harrier and peregrine falcon. The chance of survival of a Yellow-bibbed Lory in the wild is presumably low given the high likelihood of predation. Lories are susceptible to hemochromatosis an iron storage disease that causes a large amount of iron to accumulate in body tissue, which can be fatal. Ensuring total dietary iron intake remains below 100 parts per million and feeding Lories fruits and vegetables that are low in iron and ascorbic acid can reduce the chance of this disease.
THREAT TO HUMAN SAFETY The Yellow-bibbed Lory being a medium-sized Psittacine species is not equipped to cause any serious harm to members of the public. A lack of claws or talons, or a ripping beak and its small size prevents this from being likely.
HISTORY AS A PEST The Yellow-bibbed Lory is not recorded in the Global Invasive Species Database – a record of the world’s 100 worst invasive species, managed by the Invasive Species Specialist Group (ISSG) of the IUCN Species Survival Commission. No records of the species being a pest, causing damage to the environment or agriculture were found in the literature. No records were found of the species spreading rapidly following release in new environments.
POTENTIAL IMPACT IN TASMANIA From a review of available information it appears that the Yellow-bibbed Lory is not likely to have any serious human health, biosecurity or environmental impacts in Tasmania.
Species Profile: Yellow-bibbed Lory [Lorius chlorocercus] 7/9 REFERENCES
Avianweb: http://www.avianweb.com BirdLife International (2015) Species factsheet Lorius chlorocercus: http://www.birdlife.org BirdLife International (2015) IUCN Red List for birds: http://www.birdlife.org
Brazil, M. 2009. Birds of East Asia: Eastern China, Taiwan, Korea, Japan, Eastern Russia. Christopher Helm, London. Collar, N. & Kirwan, G.M. (2015). Yellow-bibbed Lory (Lorius chlorocercus). In: del Hoyo, J., Elliott, A., Sargatal, J., Christie, D.A. & de Juana, E. (eds.) (2015). Handbook of the Birds of the World Alive. Lynx E, Barcelona. CRC Handbook of Avian Body Masses, Second Edition. John B . Dunning. CRC Press 2007. Print ISBN: 978-1-4200-6444-5. eBook ISBN: 978-1-4200-6445-2. Encyclopedia of Life: http://www.eol.org Forshaw, Joseph M. (2006). Parrots of the World; an Identification Guide. Illustrated by Frank Knight. Princeton University Press ISBN 0-691-09251-6 Global Biodiversity Information System, GBIF (2011): http://data.gbif.org/species Global Invasive Species Database, GISB (2011): http://www.issg.org/database/species del Hoyo, J.; Elliott, A.; Sargatal, J. 1997. Handbook of the Birds of the World, vol. 4: Sandgrouse to Cuckoos. Lynx Edicions, Barcelona, Spain. iNaturalist.org: http://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/19036-Eos International Lory Group: http://www.loryclub.com/index.php Lorries Limited: http://www.lorywebsite.com/ Lory Link - http://www.kcbbs.gen.nz/lori/ar/behaviour.html Parr, M., Juniper T., Helm C., 1998; Parrots: A Guide to Parrots of the World, by Publishers, London. Perrins C. (Ed.) 2003The new encyclopedia of birds (1 rev ed.) Parrots, lories and cockatoos, Oxford University Press. Pet Education: http://www.peteducation.com/article.cfm?c=15+1840&aid=2306 Schroeder, Dick. "The Yellow-Bibbed Lory". Bird Channel. Shepherd, C.R.; Stengel, C.J.; Nijman, V. (2012). The Export and Re-export of CITES-listed Birds from the Solomon Islands (PDF). Petaling Jaya, Selangor, Malaysia: TRAFFIC Southeast Asia. ISBN 978-983-3393-35-0.
Species Profile: Yellow-bibbed Lory [Lorius chlorocercus] 8/9 NATURAL AND CULTURAL HERITAGE DIVISION
Department of Primary Industries, Parks, Water and Environment
GPO Box 44, Hobart 7001
Ph: 1300 368 550
Email: [email protected] Visit: www.dpipwe.tas.gov.au
Species Profile: Yellow-bibbed Lory [Lorius chlorocercus] 9/9