http://www.theage.com.au/text/articles/2003/10/15/1065917479537.htm
Endangered parrots board flight to freedom
Date: October 16 2003
Accustomed to flying on their own head of steam, 20 orange-bellied
parrots yesterday had the assistance of a twin-engine Cessna as they
flew across Bass Strait. After a last-minute medical examination at
Healesville Sanctuary, the captive-bred birds, right, among Australia's
most endangered species, travelled from Coldstream Airport to Birchs
Inlet, Tasmania, where they will be released into the wild as part of a
breeding and release program undertaken in conjunction with the
Tasmanian Government, Adelaide Zoo and a private aviculturalist. It is
hoped that the program, which began in 1999, will boost numbers of the
species, which have fallen to 200 because of land development in the
birds' winter habitat on the western coast of Port Phillip Bay. The
birds' spring breeding ground on Tasmania's west coast is protected as
a Wilderness World Heritage Area.
Birding-Aus is on the Web at
www.shc.melb.catholic.edu.au/home/birding/index.html
To unsubscribe from this mailing list, send the message
"unsubscribe birding-aus" (no quotes, no Subject line)
to
|
