Aussie Finch Forum

What if ?? It makes me a bit wild what has gone on and the millions spent. What if the authorities turned up to Freds in 1973 and said " Fred thats excellent, you`ve bred a few even though they are housed with Scarlet Chested Parrots, Hooded Siskins, Red Faced Parrot finches and Red backed button Quail.How about we start a program and set you up somewhere with some dedicated aviaries ? "

The Government program started in 1983 with Rock and Blue wings, Twenty Rock parrots and 12 Blue Wings were trapped for initial trials. 50 of each species were bred from 1983 to 1986. 5 pairs of each were retained for fostering . The rest were released back into the wild.

How ridiculous is this whole situation when theres a bloke in Adelaide who already had Orange bellied and had bred them.

I seriously hope better decisions are being made at the present time.

I see your point on the mutation thing Arthur, I just wouldnt like to see it end up where most of the other neophemas have.

There are 3 captive populations now, healesville, adelaide zoo and another who's location is secret.

Some other links for those interested http://orangebelliedparrot.org/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://www.birdsaustralia.com.au/our-pr ... overy.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I know that I will probably get some flack over this, but, The history of the earth is one of extinction! Admittedly it is an abomination if that extinction is caused by the hand of man. Orange Bellied Parrots biggest threat, apart from drought and maybe predators is possibly the hard wired need to instinctively cross Bass Straight twice a year. Surely this takes its toll on the population which is already in critically low numbers. This need could have developed when Tasmania was joined to the mainland and it was just a matter of a seasonal migration across land, with the oceans rising and continental drift the journey would have become increasingly difficult, leaving only the super fit to complete it. Eventually the distance would become too great and treacherous especially if evolution could not keep up with the rigours of the changing environment. My idea would be to breed a resident population in the area where they breed (Climate permitting of course) for several generations and hopefully breed out this need to migrate. Whether this could be done in a reasonable time frame or not I don't know. The old story, adapt or die out, seems to me to be the solution. These might be just naive ramblings but just a different slant on things.

Hmmm, the Fb group just removed all comments about private parties becoming involved in breeding, they put up a link to this http://www.birdsaustralia.com.au/images ... eb2011.pdf" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; obviously the news article has caused a bit of furor?

Yep T .. very good point and probably the only way to save them from extinction .

A lot of island birds (Australia and Tas are both islands) have a problem with migration unless they are super efficient flyers eg. swallows, swifts, and all sea birds. I don't think any neophema is built for effortless speed and distance so it must take a large toll on them.

Considering events like this happen in other areas, the 23 oilrigs in Bass Strait could be a problem too

Oil rigs may provide bird buffet for sharks
http://blog.al.com/live/2012/01/oil_rig ... rd_buff_2.

At least there is one possative in all this gloom. There are 20 times as many birds in captive breeding programs as there are in the wild. So the captive breeding programs sound as if they are doing something right.
LML

And breeding without the great migration so hopefully in time they will evolve to birds that can hold their own in one place ...and if as said over time the distance they need to travel has increased dramatically then the remining wild birds must be very robust little birds and perhaps would make good stock for a captive breeding programme .
'Of course humans need to stop develeping those pockets of land they like ...will it ever happen ?

And the gov't needs to stop red taping everything and leave the programme to people who really care and know what they are doing ...will that ever happen ?