Last Chance to See OBPs in the wild

To Laurie’s post, I would add the following details for anyone interested in donating to help save the species in the wild.

Difficult Birds Research Group is a group of scientists and researchers from ANU. Their ‘Operation OBP’ project commenced last summer and continues summer 2017/18. Specifics and a Donate Now link can be found here:

Donation
www.difficultbirds.com
You can help us to protect these ‘difficult birds’ by donating DONATE NOW

Another deserving group is Friends of the OBP, a Tasmania-based volunteer crew which provides crucial OBP monitoring work done at Melaleuca breeding grounds from September 2017 to April 2018. Pairs spend two weeks each in the remote outpost, observing birds, providing supplementary feed and promoting biosecurity:

wildcaretas.org.au/product/obpfund/ Note: at checkout, please write a note that you wish your donation to go to Friends of the OBP.

[wildcaretas.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/donation_obp2.jpg]

Wildcare | WILDCARE Save the Orange-bellied parrot Fund
wildcaretas.org.au
The Orange-bellied parrot is a critically endangered bird species that migrates from mainland Australia to the wild and remote southwest Tasmania each summer.

Other worthy recipients of your money are Zoos Victoria, Adelaide Zoo, Moonlit Sanctuary Wildlife Conservation Park and Priam Australia. All breed OBPs for the insurance population.

________________________________
Message: 1

From: Laurie Knight < l.knight@optusnet.com.au>
To: Birding Aus < birding-aus@birding-aus.org>
Subject: [Birding-Aus] Last Chance to See ?
Message-ID: < EDE7D3E3-8C49-4322-A8E2-04A40D6AA300@optusnet.com.au>
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If you haven?t already seen it, there is a write-up in the Fairfax media of the rear guard campaign to keep the OBPs going in the wild. see www.smh.com.au/good-weekend/can-a-lastditch-intervention-save-the-orangebellied-parrot-20170817-gxycg2.html ? “Can a last-ditch intervention save the orange-bellied parrot”?
[www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/g/x/y/c/r/x/image.related.articleLeadwide.620×349.gxycg2.png/1503119133869.jpg]

Will a last-ditch intervention save Australia’s most endangered bird?
www.smh.com.au
Despite decades of conservation, Australia’s most endangered bird is edging closer to extinction in the wild. But conservationists are not giving up.

Part of the problem is caused by Pseudomonas aeruginosa a bacterium infecting the seed prepared at the Hobart Breeding Facility that is resistant to the disinfectant used to sterilise the seed.

If you haven?t already seen OPB?s in the wild, you should seriously consider popping down to Melaleuca this summer. I combined OBP time with a bushwalk to SW Cape [which involved Hooded Plovers and Ground Parrots and nice beach walking and camping]. I enjoyed watching the OBPs coming in to the feeder at the Deny King Museum [and logging their arrivals in the daily obs sheet]. Even better, I got to photograph an unbanded adult [which keeps the twitching purists happy].

There may be a time when OBPs only survive as aviary birds [a fate preferable to extinction], but if you want to see them in the Wild, the best option is to fly to Melaleuca. Par Avion has daily flights from Hobart [Cambridge airport] in summer. You can either do a day trip [take warm clothing and extra food as weather may delay the flights] or spend a couple of days in the SW – there are two bushwalkers huts at Melaleuca ?

If you haven?t already seen OBPs, it may be your last chance to see them …

Regards, Laurie.