It's great news that the Orange-bellied Parrot is still at Maroubra. The
bands tell us that this bird was banded as a nestling at Melaleuca in
January this year, and that it is a wild bird, not one of the captive-bred
released birds. The blue band on the right leg will have a large silver
letter on it which allows individual identification. The bands are
anodized aluminium and the letter, a capital letter, is stamped into the
metal of the band. The left leg is a year colour, telling us that the bird
fledged in 2003 (black for this year). As an example, a juvenile female,
black left, blue Z right has been seen a number of times in the last few
weeks at the Werribee Sewage Farm. It is very important that birders try
to read the letter on the band as this will determine which individual it
is, and we could then determine if this bird successfully returns to Tas.
to breed and whether it turns up at other sites this year or in the
future. Could anyone who searches for the bird take a scope and please try
to read the letter on the blue band.
Jonathan Starks
Winter Co-ordinator
Orange-bellied Parrot Recovery Program
Birding-Aus is on the Web at
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