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Hi, my name's Henry Cook. This last season
I worked with ANU on the Swift Parrot project
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in Tasmania. These little birds had a terrible
season with few chicks surviving. On seeing
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this, I and the rest of the team hatched a
plan to raise some money and save these birds.
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What are we doing today?
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Dejan: Today we're
going to be banding the first Swift Parrots
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of the 2014 season, that's assuming they've
survived, this area we know has Sugar Gliders.
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It's entirely possible that they've been eaten.
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Henry: Feather down.
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Dejan: Swift Parrot.
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Henry: This is Doctor Dejan Stojanovic. Post
Doctoral Fellow at ANU. He's part of a team
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that has been researching swift parrots for
the past seven years. Part of his research
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involves monitoring of nest success using
motion detecting cameras.
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Dejan: The nestlings are dead.
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Henry: What from?
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Dejan: Well, Camera
trap will tell us in a second.
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Probably be Sugar Gliders.
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Henry: Sugar Gliders were introduced
in Tasmania sometime around the mid 19th century.
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Dejan: When Swift Parrots nest in an area
where there is a low risk of Glider prodation,
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like Bruny or Maria Island, we get to see
the nest succeed.
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Henry: From incubation
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to hatching, as they start to grow their feathers,
and almost fledging.
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Dejan: Unfortunately,
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the location of flowering Blue Gum and Black
Gum dictates where the Swift Parrot breeds.
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So, they can't nest on these islands every
year.
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Henry: Which brings us to the crowd
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funding. We want to do something about the
nest failures. We know that Sugar Glider prodation
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is directly linked to deforestation. We can't
just switch off broad scale logging in Tasmanian
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old growth forest.
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Dejan: Nor can we manage
the wild fires, which burn out hollows every season.
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Henry: We want to use nest boxes as
surrogate nest hollows or research tools for
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the Swift Parrot and two other critically
endangered birds: the Forty-Spotted Pardalote
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and the Orange-Bellied Parrot.
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For
Forty-Spotted Pardalotes, we want to increase
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the number of nest sites in some severely
hollow limited locations.
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Dejan: For the Orange-Bellied
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Parrot, we'd like to assess the risk of Glider
predation to known and historical breeding
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locations throughout Tasmania.
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Henry: Finally, the Swift Parrots, we'd like to add nesting sites
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to some regularly used, but hollow free feeding
locations in an attempt to establish new breeding
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sites. We'd also like to trial some designs
we have for Glider proof nest boxes.
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Dejan: We have the man power and the equipment to make this happen. All that is required are a lot
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of nest boxes.
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Henry: These are Australia's rarest
birds and they all share a common threat.
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With your help, we can make a difference ensuring
the continued survival
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of these magnificent species.