Swift Parrot

About

The swift parrot breeds only in Tasmania's blue gum forests over summer before migrating across Bass Strait to winter in mainland box-ironbark woodlands of Victoria and New South Wales. With an estimated 300-500 birds left, it is threatened both by loss of old-growth breeding forest and by predation from introduced sugar gliders on nesting females and chicks.

How to spot it

A small (25cm), fast-flying parrot with long swept-back wings and a long tapering tail - built for speed, not manoeuvring. Bright green overall with a red face, chin and shoulder patch and a blue-tinged crown. Told apart from lorikeets by its swift, direct flight (hence the name) and shrill, chattering in-flight calls. In Tasmania, look and listen for them high in flowering blue gum canopy from September to February.

Found in

• Freycinet National Park
• South Bruny National Park
• Maria Island National Park