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The Swift Parrot Lathamus discolour is a specialised nectar and pollen feeding parrot that migrates across Bass Strait from summer breeding areas in Tasmania to winter feeding areas on mainland Australia with important sites in Victoria.
The Swift Parrot is the sole member of the genus Lathamus and is unusual in that it has some similar characteristics to both Lorikeets and Parrots (Psephotus and Platycercus). It has a specialised brush tongue for nectar and pollen feeding, long slender wings for rapid flight and a long slender stiff tail similar to Lorikeets but a smaller non-protruding bill and feather patterns more similar to those found on the broadtail parrots (Brown 1989).
The Swift Parrot is about 25 cm in length; some obvious features include a bright green glossy appearance with red around the bill and throat to the base of the neck with yellow margins. Shoulders and underwing coverts are bright red, primary coverts blue. Females and juveniles are generally duller with less red and yellow on the face and throat. The call varies according to behavioral patterns with the alarm call being a high pitched ‘clink’ ‘clink’ ‘clink’ being rapidly repeated when birds arrive and depart a site.
Thirty one locations have been identified in Victoria as being important feeding habitat for the Swift Parrot, these are mainly in the Box Ironbark forests through central Victoria.
Parks and Reserves managed by Parks Victoria.
Northern Grampians Shire
Ararat Rural City
Central Goldfields Shire
Strathbogie Shire
Greater Bendigo City
Hepburn Shire
Mount Alexander Shire
Loddon Shire
Pyrenees Shire
Northern Grampians Shire
Indio Shire
Goulburn Broken Shire
Wangaratta Rural City
South West Victoria
City of Greater Geelong, Moorabool Shire and Golden Plains Shire
Swift Parrots enjoying a bird bath near Eynesbury, Melton City LGA (approx. 30 km north west of Melbourne). Image Leigh Francis.
Swift Parrots spend most of the year in Tasmania and have been recorded there from August to April, the main breeding season being from October – December, during this time the birds utilise Tasmanian Blue Gum Eucalyptus globulus in the north, east and southern areas of Tasmania. The Tasmanian Blue Gum also provides an important source of food during the breeding season (Hingston et al. 2004). From January there is a general post breeding movement to central and western Tasmania which also coincides with the end of the Blue Gum flowering period (Brown 1989).
Migration across Bass Strait can commence anytime from late February onwards. Records suggest the birds make the Bass Strait crossing in small flocks during daylight hours without stopping, a journey which could take about five hours. By May the Swift Parrot is distributed mainly in Victoria and to a lesser extent New South Wales and sometimes southern Queensland where they remain until mid August to September when they begin their return journey back to breeding areas in Tasmania (Brown 1989).
Whilst in Victoria, the over-wintering habitat of the Swift Parrot is eucalypt forests and woodlands, particularly the box ironbark woodlands of central Victoria. Areas used by Swift Parrots can change differently from one year to the next and small remnant patches down to 10 ha can become significant elements in the landscape for the over-wintering (Mac Nally & Horrocks 2000).
Swift Parrots use their specialised tongue to consume nectar and pollen but to a lesser extent have also been recorded feeding on lerps and psillids in Victoria. It has been found that in Victoria more than 90% of observations were of birds using the winter flowering Red Ironbark Eucalyptus tricarpa, Mugga Ironbark Eucalyptus sideroxylon, Yellow Gum Eucalyptus leucoxylon or Grey Box Eucalyptus microcarpa. Nectar, lerp and other food from eucalypt foliage were frequent dietary items (Kennedy & Tzaros 2005). White Box Eucalyptus albens and Red Gum Eucalyptus camaldulensis have also been recorded as a food source (DSE 2002). They have also been recorded feeding on Swamp Gum'Eucalyptus ovata during flowering, primarily in August in Tasmania (Brown 1989).
Although Swift Parrots feed mainly on flowering eucalypts the occurrence of Swift Parrots is not necessarily associated with the amount of flowering in the box-ironbark system but rather more associated with the flowering intensity of the Golden Wattle Acacia pycnantha and to the density of certain species of highly aggressive, nectarivorous honeyeaters e.g. Fuscous Lichensostomus fuscus, White-plumed Lichensostomus penicillatus, and Yellow-tufted Lichensostomus melanops honeyeaters and Red Wattlebird Anthochaera carunculata (Mac Nally & Horrocks 2000).
The Swift Parrot can rapidly ingest large quantities of Eucalyptus pollen which is an important source of protein (Gartrell & Jones 2001). It has been found that they are an effective pollinator of the Tasmanian Blue Gum, more so than honeyeaters (Hingston et al 2004).
The Swift Parrot population was estimated at 1320 pairs by Brown (1989). Brereton (1996) estimated 1,000 breeding pairs. The most significant threat to this species is the loss of breeding habitat in Tasmania, primarily the harvesting of Tasmanian Blue Gum due to forestry practices including woodchipping. Brown (1989) estimated that only one third of the original Eucalyptus globulus forest remained.
The main threat in Victoria is a reduction in the extent of Box Ironbark woodlands which provide a source of winter flowering, nectar and pollen.
It has been suggested that revegetation programs would benefit from plantings which have an integrated, multi-vegetation-layer approach e.g. golden wattle are likely to produce better outcomes for many species, but especially for overwintering Swift Parrots (Mac Nally & Horrocks 2000).
Special Management Zone requirements for Swift Parrot sites have been provided into Forest Management Plans across Victoria. Sites are managed to protect the key habitat features for Swift Parrots. All larger trees will be protected from harvesting and all activities likely to disturb Swift Parrots will be excluded while the birds are foraging within the areas.
Field observations from February to September in Victoria are important to assist in population monitoring. Observations can be sent to SWIFFT and will be forwarded onto the DELWP Victorian Biodiversity Atlas.
The Swift Parrot Group recovery group comprises interstate government conservation departments as well as Birdlife Australia.
Specific managemnt actions for conservation of the Swift Parrot in Victoria
Brereton R., Mallick S.A., Kennedy S.J.(2004) Foraging preferences of Swift Parrots on Tasmanian Blue-gum: tree size, flowering frequency and flowering intensity, Emu 104(4) 377–383, Published: 16 December 2004
Brown P.B. (1989) The Swift Parrot Lathamus discolor (White) A report on its ecology, distribution and status, including management considerations. A report prepared for the Australian Heritage Commission, Department of Lands Parks and Wildlife, Tasmania, July 1989.
DSE (2002) Victorian Flora and Fauna Gaurantee Action Statement No.169, Swift Parrot Lathamus discolor Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning Victoria.
Gartrell B.D., Jones M. (2001) Eucalyptus pollen grain emptying by two Australian nectarivorous psittacines Journal of Avian Biology 32 (3), 224–230.
Hingston A.B., Gartrell B.D., Pinchbeck G. (2004) How specialized is the plant-pollinator association between Eucalyptus globulus ssp. globulus and the swift parrot Lathamus discolor? Austral Ecology 29 (6), 624–630.
IUCN (2017) BirdLife International. 2016. Lathamus discolor. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2016: e.T22685219A93064101. http://dx.doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.2016-3.RLTS.T22685219A93064101.en. Downloaded on 02 June 2017.
Kennedy S.J., and Tzaros C.L. (20050 Foraging ecology of the Swift parrot Lathamus discolor in the box-ironbark forests and woodlands of Victoria.PACIFIC CONSERVATION BIOLOGY. 11(3), 2005 p. 158-173
MacNally R., and Horricks G. (2000) Landscape-scale conservation of an endangered migrant: the Swift Parrot (Lathamus discolor) in its winter range, Biological Conservation, Vol 92, Issue 3, March 2000, Pages 335-343
Victorian Flora Fauna Guarantee Action Statement No.169 Swift Parrot [pdf] (187KB)
Department of Environment, Species Profile & Threats database -Swift Parrot
Dept. of Environment & Energy, Swift Parrot Recovery Plan 2001-2005
Birdlife Australia – Swift Parrot
Birdlife Australia - Swift Parrot survey results 2016 pdf
Swift Parrot - New South Wales
The Swift Parrots of Muckleford preview.
The Swift Parrots of Muckleford DVD shows footage of Swift Parrots never seen before. Filmed totally in Muckleford, Central Victoria over a five-year period by Debbie Worland, a member of the Castlemaine Field Naturalist Group. The DVD features special comments from former Birds Australia’s Swift Parrot Recovery Co-coordinator Chris Tzaros, and has been narrated by International Award Winner, John Flaus, a resident of Castlemaine. Bill Irwin Productions of Chewton produced the DVD. Email: swiftparrotsofmuckleford@hotmail.com for details.
Swift Parrot contacts in Victoria:
Dean Ingwersen, Birdlife Australia -03 9347 0757 ext 247
Caroline Wilson, Birdlife Australia -03 9347 0757
Peter Johnson, Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning - Bendigo
Debbie Worland, Castlemaine Field Naturalist Group