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Last Sunday while doing a spot of bird-watching at
Braeside Park (in the SE suburbs of Melbourne), I had a chat with one of the
regular Braeside birdwatchers. He showed me a couple of photos he had
taken 2-3 weeks earlier of a single Superb Parrot on the branch of a Manna Gum
within the Heathy Woodland area.
I can only assume that this was an aviary escapee
or a descendent of an aviary escapee. My copy of The Atlas of Victorian
Birds (Emison et al 1987) indicates the presence of an escapee population of
Superb Parrots from the Melbourne area.
Has anybody else seen Superb Parrots in the
Melbourne area in the last couple of years? Is this isolated
population increasing or decreasing? Have they been observed breeding in
the Melbourne area?
Given the Superb Parrot is listed as
vulnerable in Australia under both the Commonwealth leglislation (Environmental
Potection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999) and the recent Action
Plan for Australian Birds, perhaps we need to know more. Could an
escapee Superb Parrot population provide some useful biological
information which may assist this threatened species within its
natural range?
Chris Timewell
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