Urgent plea to protect Aussie bird as numbers plummet to 'dangerous levels'
As one of the world's rarest birds migrates across Bass Strait, there are fears its northern homeland is being destroyed at a rate that could push it to extinction. With autumn setting in, Tasmania is cooling and the last surviving wild swift parrots are making their annual journey of up to 5,000km to Victoria, NSW and southern Queensland.
Experts from Birdlife Australia and the Nature Conservation Council NSW are particularly concerned about the rate of native forest logging in NSW and they've suggested a simple solution to counter its impact on the swift parrot. With just 300 to 1,000 of these birds left on Earth, they've issued a joint request, urging the state to stop destroying critical habitat like flowering trees for feeding and old, hollow trees that provide shelter.
Nature Conservation Council CEO Jacqui Mumford warned swift parrots are 'copping it from all sides' as trees are cut down across both Tasmania and NSW. 'Breeding and feeding grounds are being logged and numbers are falling to very dangerous levels. Make no mistake, extinction is almost certain if we don't act decisively,' she warned.
Yahoo News contacted the offices of Environment Minister Penny Sharpe and Agriculture Minister Tara Moriarty about the warnings. While a direct response was not supplied, it's understood the Minns Government remains steadfastly committed to the timber industry.
Related: Aussie state where future generations will only see iconic wildlife in zoos
While the Commonwealth's Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation (EPBC) Act is designed to safeguard endangered species from threats, including habitat destruction, state logging operations are exempt from these regulations. In NSW, the Environment Protection Authority has a separate suite of 'protections' called the Coastal Integrated Forestry Operation Approvals which contain regulations for logging around swift parrot feeding and roosting habitats.
'These include a 25-metre exclusion zone around every swift parrot roost, and a minimum retention of five nectar trees (for every hectare of net harvest area) in any compartment within 2km of a swift parrot record,' an EPA spokesperson told Yahoo.
But some critics argue these rules are flawed because trees are only protected when a swift parrot is sighted, and the tiny 60-80 gram birds are near impossible to spot in the wild. They say even larger species like koala-sized greater gliders can be missed by the state logging agency Forestry Corporation of NSW, noting a 2024 report estimated just 1 per cent of the species' dens were identified in pre-logging surveys.
Addressing concerns raised by conservationists about the swift parrot, Forestry Corporation told Yahoo it operates in a 'highly regulated environment' that delivers 'ecologically sustainable forest management'.
Despite these assurances, Birdlife Australia argues ending native forest logging would be an important step towards ensuring the nation doesn't lose this bird. Less than 30 per cent of its foraging habitat remains and according to the Commonwealth, clearing of its habitat is a key driver of its demise. It's predicted the species will be extinct in the wild in the next 20 years.
"The swift parrot needs the NSW government to protect its feeding range. Protecting native forests from logging would go a long way to achieving this," its nature campaigner Tarquin Moon said.
Last year, the plight of the swift parrots received international attention with Hollywood actor Leonardo Dicaprio calling for an end to native forest logging across Australia. In a post to his 60 million Instagram followers, he said it was the "only way to protect the swift parrot and hundreds of other threatened Australian forest species".
Australia is the only developed nation declared a deforestation hotspot, and the swift parrot is just one of more than 2,200 species listed by the Commonwealth as threatened with extinction.
In November, Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek and Greens Senator Sarah Hanson-Young appeared to have agreed on a plan to end native forest logging across the country, however the deal was ditched following an intervention from Prime Minister Anthony Albanese.
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