Welcoming new volunteers for Orange-bellied Parrot surveys!
On the first of July, NGT held an Orange-bellied Parrot workshop for anyone interested in the recovery efforts of this unique and highly endangered species. Rachel Pritchard (from DELWP) gave an update on the current recovery efforts and on how the winter count data collected by the many involved volunteers played an important role in getting the new mainland release trial started.
Bob Green, the south Australian winter survey coordinator and OBP enthusiast later boosted everyone’s confidence with a presentation on how to identify an OBP and challenged the keen crowd with a quiz at the end.
Bob Green teaching new volunteers how to identify different Neophema species
At the end we were all able to practise our newly gained ID-skills in a nearby site with historical OBP sightings. The sunny walk in the late afternoon was a perfect way to wrap up an educational afternoon and we were lucky enough to observe a flock of blue-winged parrots enjoying the last sunlight of the day.
Three Blue-winged Parrots enjoying the last sunlight of the day (Photo: B. Green)
It was great to have such an enthusiastic and keen crowd participating in the workshop and it was especially pleasing to see new volunteers getting involved in the second count weekend on the 22nd/23rd of July.
Practising new ID skills
On the official count weekend at the end of July, we didn’t find any Orange-bellied Parrots. However, it was a perfect weekend to be outside in beautiful coastal wetlands. One group of Volunteers were able to observe a couple of whales moving along the coast towards Logans Bay and others observed Emus having a splash in the swamp. Several flocks of Neophemas were observed but at this stage no OBP was found hiding amongst them.
If you are keen on participating in the last Winter count for this season (9th/10th September) feel free to contact " target="_blank">Nicole at NGT.
