Swift Parrot

The Critically Endangered Swift Parrot is one of just three migratory parrots on earth. They breed in Tasmania (from September to January, coinciding with the flowering of the Tasmanian Blue Gum) before migrating across Bass Strait in the cooler months to forage in dry sclerophyll forests and woodlands of the Australian mainland.

Swift Parrots are typically seen feeding in the outer canopy of eucalypts, taking nectar from available blossom, or psyllids and lerp (lerp are waxy, sugar-rich casings created by Psyllids) from the surface of leaves. They are active and agile when feeding, often hanging upside down.

While on the mainland, they are nomadic, spending weeks or months at some sites, and only a few hours at others depending on food availability. At sites where food is abundant, Swift Parrots can congregate in large flocks and associate with smaller lorikeets and honeyeaters.

They nest in tree hollows found in the trunk, branch or spout of a living or dead gum. Pairs often breed in loose colonies, sometimes even closer together with multiple nests in one tree and may return to the same nest site on a rotational basis when sufficient food is available locally.

Swift Parrots are adapted to travelling far and wide to find available food. In some years birds will fly as far as coastal south-east Queensland, a 4,000+ kilometre round trip, making it the world’s furthest known parrot migration.

Swift Parrots typically begin arriving back in Tasmania from the mainland in August, with the vast majority of the population typically completing this journey by end of October.

Long-term monitoring shows that the Swift Parrot population is in a perilous decline. Recent research suggests there could be as few as 500 birds remaining in the wild. At this rate, Swift Parrots could become extinct by 2031.

Clearing of high quality breeding and foraging habitat has been a key driver of their population decline over the past 150 years. Other threats include nest predation by sugar gliders and habitat destruction from altered fire regimes, timber harvesting and the changing climate.

Sightings are critical to scientific knowledge and conservation of the Swift Parrot. Find out how you can take part in Birdlife Australia's Swift Parrot Search.