Australian Breeders Market

The Age reports that the Federal Environment Minister Ian Campbell will be contributing $3.2 million over two years to saving the orange bellied parrot – including habitat protection, as well as predator control.

The announcements were made on King Island, where the parrot co-exists with the controversial wind turbines – the same turbines that brought the parrot into the news in the Gippsland area in the first place. The Gippsland plant is still waiting on a submission from the developer that will probably include money for the parrot.
There have been no King Island wind turbine related bird fatalities recorded.

Despite the rather tongue in cheek dramas surrounding the orange bellied parrot of late, the plight of the small parrot is a serious one. The orange bellied parrot is reported to number only 200, with only fifty breeding pairs. As The Age states, this is as rare as the Chinese Giant Panda.

Other Links:

• Parrot Society of Australia
• Wikipedia entry on the orange bellied parrot

This entry was posted on Wednesday, August 30th, 2006 at 4:05 pm and is filed under Birds in the News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.