Download A swift exit - Birdlife Australia

The Swift Parrot is on track
to extinction at a faster
rate than almost any
other Australian bird.
BirdLife Australia’s Head of
Conservation, Samantha Vine,
explains why.
With their vibrant colors, cheerful calls
and fast-flying athleticism, it’s hard not
to love the Swift Parrot. Yet the bird has a
history of provoking animosity, with the
parrot regularly finding itself at the centre
of a conflict that has divided communities
for decades: the management of Tasmanian
forests.
The species became infamous in 2006
when the Federal Court of Australia ruled
that forestry operations in Tasmania’s
Wielangta area were likely “to have a
significant impact on the Swift Parrot by
reducing part of its prime nesting habitat,
being habitat used by it when suitable
foraging conditions exist.”
Yet logging of Swift Parrot breeding habitat
continues apace under a deal between
the Tasmanian and Commonwealth
Governments, known as the Regional
Forest Agreement (RFA). Under the RFA
legislation, any deals reached are exempted
from the protective provisions of the
Environment Protection Biodiversity and
Conservation Act (EPBC) which are in
place to protect endangered species.
Although they spend their winters foraging
across Victoria, NSW, the ACT and
Queensland, the less than 1,000 pairs of
remaining Swift Parrots rely on Tasmania’s
mature eucalypt forests to breed. As stated
in the 2011 National Recovery Plan for the
Swift Parrot, “the
persistence of this
species is mainly
threatened by loss
and alteration
of habitat
from forestry
activities…”
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A swift
exit
Southern Forests SPIBA
Forest loss (Hanson et al. 2014)
Globmap_>5% blue gum or black gum
Mature forest_>5% crown cover
Recent
revelations that
the Tasmanian
Government
ignored the
expert advice of
its own scientists
and allowed
Swift Parrot
breeding habitat
to be logged shine
some light on
how this threat
is allowed to
continue. Documents obtained under
Tasmanian Freedom of Information laws
show that the Tasmanian Environment
Department (DPIPWE) sought specialist
expert advice regarding five proposed
logging coupes within an identified ‘Swift
Parrot Important Breeding Area’ in the
Southern Forests. The expert advice
warned that logging in the coupes would
result in the loss of critical breeding
habitat and interfere with the recovery of
the species. Yet, despite the advice, the
Department approved logging in three of
the five coupes for which information was
provided.
The documents reveal that the Tasmanian
government is both aware of the risk posed
to Swift Parrots by ongoing logging of its
habitat, and that it will permit logging to
occur irrespective of clear, strongly worded
expert advice to the contrary.
Since these revelations, more evidence
points to a systemic problem. Bruny
Island is a critical refuge for Swift Parrots.
Nevertheless, Swift Parrot breeding habitat
on the island is currently being logged.
Logging is also proposed adjacent to the
beautiful Inala Private Reserve, which was
fortunately protected by a conservation
covenant as part of BirdLife Australia’s
Woodland Birds for Biodiversity Project.
As well as being home to Swift Parrots,
Inala provides habitat for Forty-spotted
Pardalote, the Tasmanian subspecies of
Wedge-tailed Eagle, White-bellied SeaEagle, white morph of the Grey Goshawk,
and Masked Owl. Almost 100 species
of birds have been recorded at Inala and
the nature-based tourism venture directly
employs seven Bruny Islanders and several
local businesses to provide services such
as catering. Yet Forestry Tasmania has
served notice of intent to clearfell the
neighbouring property (identified as
Coupe SB016B) in October this year. In
April, local businesses and landowners
called for immediate cessation of logging
Bruny Island coupes known to contain
Swift Parrot nests.
The logging of documented nesting sites
raises uncomfortable questions about why
logging is still allowed in critical areas for
Swift Parrots. Management tools like the
‘Threatened Fauna Advisor’ and the
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A swift exit
Previous page: The Critically
Endangered Swift Parrot. Photo by
Chris Tzaros
Map: Forest loss in Tasmania’s Southern
Forests Swift Parrot Important Breeding
Area (SPIBA) between 2000-2012 (red)
alongside the remaining fragments of
Swift Parrot breeding habitat (blue).
Provided by Dejan Stojanovic
Above: Swift Parrots following the pulses
of flowering eucalypts, which can vary
remarkably year to year. Photo by Chris
Tzaros
Right: This Swift Parrot habitat tree
(with potentially suitable nesting hollow
visible) stands within a coupe on Bruny
Island, earmarked for logging this year.
Photo by Tonia Cochrane
Opposite: Current logging of essential
Swift Parrot habitat is threatening to
decimate populations of this vibrant
bird. Photo by Chris Tzaros
‘Swift Parrot Interim Habitat Planning
Guideline’ are already available and a great
start for managing the competing interests
of logging and Swift Parrots. However, the
Freedom of Information documents and
current logging of known breeding habitat
on Bruny Island and in the Southern
Forests points to a systemic failure of
governance that could drive the species to
extinction in the very near future.
As if this wasn’t bad enough…
The cutest assassin
Last year, scientists from the Australian
National University (ANU) led by
Professor Robert Heinsohn published their
discovery of a new threat to Swift Parrots—
Sugar Gliders. Introduced to Tasmania,
and small enough to enter the tree hollows
where Swift Parrots nest, the gliders are not
only eating Swift Parrot eggs and nestlings,
but also adult females.
On the Tasmanian mainland, most Swift
Parrot nests are currently failing as a
consequence of Sugar Glider predation.
Dr Dejan Stojanovic and his colleagues at
ANU made this discovery using motiondetecting cameras, which were deployed at
Swift Parrot nests across Tasmania. Gliders
were found preying on Swift Parrots at
every mainland Tasmanian nesting location
discovered so far. And they don’t just eat
Swift Parrots—Sugar Gliders have been
recorded killing and eating Orange-bellied
Parrots (adult females and eggs), Bluewinged Parrots (adult females and eggs),
Green Rosellas (eggs), Tree Martins (adult
females, eggs, nestlings), Striated Pardalotes
(adult females, eggs, nestlings) and closely
inspecting nests of recently fledged Fortyspotted Pardalotes.
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But the risk of predation by Sugar Gliders
varies from place to place. The Swift
Parrot studies revealed that gliders are
more likely to raid nests in locations where
deforestation is severe, compared to other
places where mature forest is abundant.
This link between deforestation and
predation on Swift Parrots points to subtler
effects of deforestation on Swift Parrot
habitat quality. Their study indicates that
even in forests left undamaged by direct
logging, nearby deforestation increases
the impact of Sugar Gliders on birds in
remaining habitat.
Chasing the richest patch
Recent research has also demonstrated
how Swift Parrots follow pulses of food
availability (flowering eucalypts) as they
move across the landscape. Swift Parrots are
known to appear locally when trees flower,
and then disappear again until flowering
next occurs. BirdLife Australia partnered
with ANU to undertake a research
program to confirm the link between tree
flowering and habitat use by Swift Parrots.
To do this, we surveyed more than 1,000
sites each year (we have just collected our
sixth year of data) and assessed where food
was available, and where the parrots settled
for the summer breeding season.
Our results drew a clear link between
eucalypt flowering and the distribution
patterns of Swift Parrots. We also
discovered that in most years, birds have
little choice about where they settle,
and usually must nest in proximity to
whichever flowering patches are available.
These results reinforce the need to
maintain large areas of mature forest for
Swift Parrots, because in most years there
are only a handful of small patches of
flowering available, and the location and
extent of flowering varies dramatically each
year.
In the context of Sugar Glider predation,
these results are particularly important.
Flowering forests occupied by gliders
may pose a serious risk to birds looking
for a place to nest. We found that Swift
Parrots mostly breed on the Tasmanian
mainland where gliders occur, and offshore
islands only supported a minority of the
population in most years.
Synthesis of this new research has revealed
just how much trouble Swift Parrots are
in. The predation rates are shockingly
high, and the settlement patterns indicated
that most of the population could be
at risk from gliders. Taken together, the
new research pointed to a previously
unrecognised crisis, prompting a review of
the species' conservation status.
The results were dire. In a paper published
in Biological Conservation, Dr Stojanovic
and colleagues used the available data
to model the best-case scenario (where
the effect of habitat limitation, disease,
collisions with windows and other known
sources of mortality were excluded). It
indicated that the Swift Parrot population
could decline by as much as 94 per cent
over only 16 years as a consequence of
Sugar Glider predation.
What can be done?
In recognition of the very high risk of
extinction the parrot now faces, BirdLife
Australia is calling for an immediate halt
to all logging of Swift Parrot breeding
habitat until we can be certain that enough
breeding habitat is protected.
Ongoing habitat loss will likely worsen
the situation, which makes it all the more
imperative that logging of Swift Parrot
breeding habitat on Bruny Island—which
is free from Sugar Gliders—immediately
and permanently cease.
We rely on our governments to look after
our threatened species. Yet the situation in
Tasmania demonstrates a breach of faith
with the public, who have trusted both the
State and Commonwealth Governments to
protect this iconic species.
With deforestation in core breeding habitat
still happening today in Tasmania, BirdLife
Australia’s Threatened Species Committee
and Research and Conservation
Committee found that the species
satisfied the criteria for listing as Critically
Endangered under the EPBC Act. A
nomination to the Federal Government has
been submitted.
Swift Parrots are one of only three
migratory parrots on the planet. To lose
them due to a failure in governance
is simply unconscionable. For so long
as Forestry Tasmania continues to log
known Swift Parrot breeding habitat it
contradicts the principles of sustainable
forest management, and BirdLife Australia
will continue to oppose their application
for Forest Stewardship Council (FSC)
Certification.
The Regional Forestry Agreement that
exempts Forestry Tasmania from our
national environmental law expires in 2017
and BirdLife Australia will fight to ensure
that the Commonwealth can once again
intervene if the State continues to drive a
species down the path to extinction. We
also continue to oppose the handover of
Commonwealth environmental approval
powers to any state or territory under the
proposed ‘one-stop-shop’ arrangements.
Because the Swift Parrot is a matter of
national environmental significance it
belongs to all Australians—just like koalas
or the Great Barrier Reef—and a federal
safeguard should always exist so that a State
Government can’t permit extinction just
because it is inconvenient for the profit line
of vested interests.
Volunteers needed to survey for
Swift Parrots in 2015
Each year since 1999 hundreds of
dedicated volunteers survey for the
now Critically Endangered Swift Parrot
and Regent Honeyeater. Both of these
species are highly nomadic and travel
the south-east of the continent in search
of food. The Swift Parrot and Regent
Honeyeater survey weekends are on the
third weekend in May and first weekend
in August each year. They provide critical
long-term data on the movements,
habitat use and population size of the
Swift Parrot and Regent Honeyeater. If
you cannot do a survey on those dates,
we are happy for people to get out a
week either side of those weekends.
Incidental sightings are always welcome,
as we maintain a database of sightings
for both species.
For more information about the Swift
Parrot surveys and to get involved go to
www.birdlife.org.au/projects/woodlandbirds-for-biodiversity
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