As regular CFZ-watchers will know, for some time Corinna has been doing a column for Animals & Men and a regular segment on On The Track... particularly about out-of-place birds and rare vagrants. There seem to be more and more bird stories from all over the world hitting the news these days so, to make room for them all - and to give them all equal and worthy coverage - she has set up this new blog to cover all things feathery and Fortean.

Tuesday 6 May 2014

Forest loss linked to swift parrot mortality

5th May 2014

46 minutes ago

(Phys.org) —New research has found the endangered swift parrot is more likely to be killed and eaten by sugar gliders in Tasmania in areas where forests are disturbed or lost compared to areas of intact forest.

The research took place over a three-year period, and compared populations of swift parrots from mainland Tasmania where sugar gliders also live, to those on islands where sugar gliders are absent.

"Across the Tasmanian mainland, we found a link between deforestation and increasing predation on parrot nests by sugar gliders," says chief investigator, ANU Postdoctoral Fellow and conservation biologist Dejan Stojanovic.

"On offshore islands where sugar gliders are absent, no swift parrot nests failed due to predators, whereas on the Tasmanian mainland, sugar gliders caused the failure of 83 per cent of swift parrot nests, and in most cases, the adult female parrot was also killed and eaten."



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