Orange-bellied parrot breeds
When: Dec - Feb
Where: Melaleuca, Southwest National Park
Endemic to southern Australia, the Orange Bellied parrot is a small broad-tailed parrot and one of only three species that migrates. The adult male is distinguished by its bright green upperparts, yellow underparts and orange belly patch.
The parrot breeds in Tasmania and winters near the coast, foraging on saltmarsh species, beach or dune plants and exotic weed species on southern mainland Australia. The orange-bellied parrots breeds solely in south west Tasmania.
It nests in eucalypts bordering on button grass moors. The entire population migrates over Bass Strait to spend the winter on the coast of south-eastern Australia.
The orange-bellied parrot is rated as critically endangered on the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN)'s Red List of Endangered species.
Image: Orange-bellied parrot / Credit: Southern Cross Television