Consultation Document on Listing Eligibility and Conservation Actions Polytelis Swainsoni

Consultation Document on Listing Eligibility and Conservation Actions

Polytelis swainsoni (superb parrot)

You are invited to provide your views about:

1) the eligibility of Polytelis swainsoni (superb parrot) for inclusion on the EPBC Act threatened species list; and

2) the necessary conservation actions for the above species.

Note: The information contained in this consultation document was primarily sourced from the ‘Action Plan for Australian Birds 2010’ (Garnett et al. 2011). As this document was compiled in 2010, newer information may be available. One of the purposes of this consultation is to update the existing information in order to make a more informed decision on whether this species is eligible for listing under the EPBC Act (1999).

The views of experts, stakeholders and the general public are welcome. Responses can be provided by any interested person.

Anyone may nominate a native species, ecological community or threatening process for listing under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (EPBC Act) or for a transfer of an item already on the list to a new listing category. The Threatened Species Scientific Committee (the Committee) undertakes the assessment of species to determine eligibility for inclusion in the list of threatened species and provides its recommendation to the Australian Government Minister for the Environment.

Responses are to be provided in writing either by email to:

or by mail to:

The Director

Marine and Freshwater Species Conservation Section

Wildlife, Heritage and Marine Division

Department of the Environment

PO Box 787

Canberra ACT 2601

Responses are required to be submitted by 9 January 2015.

Contents of this information package / Page
General background information about listing threatened species / 2
Information about this consultation process / 2
Draft information about the superb parrot and its eligibility for listing / 3
Conservation actions for the species / 8
References cited / 9
Consultation questions / 10

General background information about listing threatened species

The Australian Government helps protect species at risk of extinction by listing them as threatened under Part 13 of the EPBC Act. Once listed under the EPBC Act, the species becomes a Matter of National Environmental Significance (MNES) and must be protected from significant impacts through the assessment and approval provisions of the EPBC Act. More information about threatened species is available on the department’s website at:

http://www.environment.gov.au/biodiversity/threatened/index.html.

Public nominations to list threatened species under the EPBC Act are received annually by the department. In order to determine if a species is eligible for listing as threatened under the EPBC Act, the Threatened Species Scientific Committee (the Committee) undertakes a rigorous scientific assessment of its status to determine if the species is eligible for listing against a set of criteria. These criteria are available on the Department’s website at: http://www.environment.gov.au/biodiversity/threatened/pubs/guidelines-species.pdf.

As part of the assessment process, the Committee consults with the public and stakeholders to obtain specific details about the species, as well as advice on what conservation actions might be appropriate. Information provided through the consultation process is considered by the Committee in its assessment. The Committee provides its advice on the assessment (together with comments received) to the Minister regarding the eligibility of the species for listing under a particular category and what conservation actions might be appropriate. The Minister decides to add, or not to add, the species to the list of threatened species under the EPBC Act. More detailed information about the listing process is at: http://www.environment.gov.au/biodiversity/threatened/nominations.html.

To promote the recovery of listed threatened species and ecological communities, conservation advices and where required, recovery plans are made or adopted in accordance with Part 13 of the EPBC Act. Conservation advices provide guidance at the time of listing on known threats and priority recovery actions that can be undertaken at a local and regional level. Recovery plans describe key threats and identify specific recovery actions that can be undertaken to enable recovery activities to occur within a planned and logical national framework. Information about recovery plans is available on the department’s website at: http://www.environment.gov.au/biodiversity/threatened/recovery.html.

Information about this consultation process

Responses to this consultation can be provided electronically or in hard copy to the contact addresses provided on Page 1. All responses received will be provided in full to the Committee and then to the Australian Government Minister for the Environment.

In providing comments, please provide references to published data where possible. Should the Committee use the information you provide in formulating its advice, the information will be attributed to you and referenced as a ‘personal communication’ unless you provide references or otherwise attribute this information (please specify if your organisation requires that this information is attributed to your organisation instead of yourself). The final advice by the Committee will be published on the department’s website following the listing decision by the Minister.

Information provided through consultation may be subject to freedom of information legislation and court processes. It is also important to note that under the EPBC Act, the deliberations and recommendations of the Committee are confidential until the Minister has made a final decision on the nomination, unless otherwise determined by the Minister.

Polytelis swainsonii

Superb parrot

Taxonomy

Conventionally accepted as Polytelis swainsoni (Desmarest, 1826).

Description

The Superb Parrot is a medium-sized (36–42 cm long; 133–157 g weight) slender, long-tailed green parrot. Adult males are bright green above and below, with a bright yellow forehead, throat and cheeks, and a narrow red band separating the yellow throat from the green breast. Adult females are green all over, somewhat duller than the males, and lacking the male's yellow and red head and throat markings. Immature birds are similar to females, with young males being a slightly brighter green (Pizzey & Knight, 1997; Higgins, 1999).

Distribution

The core range of the superb parrot is west of the Great Dividing Range in New South Wales (NSW) from Canberra, Goulburn and as far west as Nyngan and Swan Hill. In Victoria, the species is now largely confined to Barmah forest area with sightings south to Shepparton and east to Wangaratta and Corryong along the Murray River. Superb parrots disappeared from central and southern Victoria in the early 1900s, and from most of northern Victoria by 1930 (Webster Ahern, 1992), and are absent from large parts of the Riverina and northern Victoria that are climatically optimal (Manning et al., 2005). There are three main breeding areas: an area of the south-west slopes bounded by Molong, Rye Park, Yass, Coolac, Cootamundra and Young (NSW); along the Murrumbidgee River, between Wagga Wagga and Toganmain Station, and farther north at Goolgowi (NSW); and along the Murray and Edward Rivers, from east of Barmah and Millewa State Forest to south of Taylors Bridge (NSW and Vic) (Baker-Gabb, 2010). Local abundance outside the breeding season has a strong positive relationship with plant productivity, but this can vary from year to year. Therefore, a general winter movement into northern NSW in winter is not necessarily a regular migration (Manning et al., 2007).

Relevant Biology/Ecology

In the Riverina, they nest in loose colonies in large, living or dead trees with many hollow branches, typically near a watercourse. On the inland slopes, they use at least six species of eucalyptus (Webster, 1988), but have a particular reliance on Blakely’s red gum E. blakelyi (Manning et al., 2006). An assumed reliance on white box (E. albens) and yellow box (E.melliodora) (Webster, 1988) remains unproven (Manning et al., 2006). Most nest sites are within 10 km of box-gum woodland and are sometimes within it (Manning et al., 2004). In Canberra, they also nest in semi-urban environments where old trees have been retained. The same nest hollows are used in successive years, although it is not known if it is always by the same pair (Webster Ahern, 1992; Davey, 1997; Manning et al., 2004). After breeding, superb parrots use a variety of woodland types and other habitat types (Webster, 1988), including artificial habitats such as crops and recreation reserves. They mostly feed on the ground, where they take a variety of native and introduced seeds, but also in shrubs and trees on seeds and blossom (Webster, 1988). A generation time of 7.5 years (BirdLife International, 2011) is derived from an age at first breeding of 1.0 year and a maximum longevity in the wild of 14.0 years (Baker-Gabb, 2010).

Threats

The most pressing threat to the superb parrot is the loss of future nesting trees. Although these are not currently limiting (Davey Purchase, 2004), 70% of nests on the south-west slopes of NSW were in Blakely's red gums, which were either dead or affected by dieback (Manning et al., 2004). More recent modelling work based around the same area suggests that, without further conservation actions, potential nest trees would continue to decline from the current level. Current declines already represent a reduction of 50% from the pre-clearing estimate, with predicted future declines resulting in a mean density representing only 6% of the original pre-clearing estimate over a two hundred year period (Manning et al., 2012). If a link is established between tree and parrot abundance then a case could be made to re-assess the listing status of superb parrots.

Much of the remnant habitat is degraded, with regeneration of nest trees prevented by overgrazing by stock and rabbits (Oryctolagus cuniculus), and by inappropriate fire regimes (Webster Ahern, 1992). Live nest trees are threatened by logging, particularly on private land, and by artificially high water levels as a result of irrigation. With a dearth of potential nest sites, competition with other species, particularly the common starling (Sturnus vulgaris), may become limiting. Irrigation, causing high water tables, drainage schemes and salinisation are also degrading non-breeding habitat (Webster, 1998). Illegal trapping has occurred in the past (Webster, 1998), but constitutes a less significant threat than habitat loss (Webster Ahern, 1992). Substantial numbers of birds are killed on roadsides, particularly during periods when grain is being transported. Pesticide poisoning may also be a problem (Webster Ahern, 1992). The historical contraction of range largely resulted from clearance for agriculture (Higgins, 1999).

Assessment of available information in relation to the EPBC Act Criteria and Regulations

Criterion 1: Reduction in numbers (based on any of A1 – A4)

A1. An observed, estimated, inferred or suspected population very severe ³90%, severe ³70% or substantial ³50% size reduction over the last 10 years or three generations, whichever is the longer, where the causes of the reduction are clearly reversible AND understood AND ceased, based on (and specifying) any of the following:

(a) direct observation

(b) an index of abundance appropriate to the taxon

(c) a decline in area of occupancy, extent of occurrence and/or quality of habitat

(d) actual or potential levels of exploitation

(e) the effects of introduced taxa, hybridization, pathogens, pollutants, competitors or parasites.

A2. An observed, estimated, inferred or suspected population very severe ³80%, severe ³50% or substantial ³30% size reduction over the last 10 years or three generations, whichever is the longer, where the reduction or its causes may not have ceased OR may not be understood OR may not be reversible, based on (and specifying) any of (a) to (e) under A1.

A3. A population size reduction very severe ³80%, severe ³50% or substantial ³30%, projected or suspected to be met within the next 10 years or three generations (up to a maximum of 100 years), whichever is the longer, based on (and specifying) any of (b) to (e) under A1.

A4. An observed, estimated, inferred, projected or suspected population size reduction very severe ³80%, severe ³50% or substantial ³30% over any 10 year or three generation period (up to a maximum of 100 years into the future), whichever is longer, where the time period must include both the past and the future, and where the reduction or its causes may not have ceased OR may not be understood OR may not be reversible, based on (and specifying) any of (a) to (e) under A1.

Evidence
The Action Plan for Australian Birds 2000 estimated the total population as approximately 6,500 adult birds and declining (Garnett Crowley, 2000). However, the re-assessment of the species for the Action Plan for Australian Birds 2010 (Garnett et al., 2011) concluded that the number is substantially greater than 10,000 and likely stable.
The higher estimate is based on a range of information, including:
·  In 2001, a study found an average of 28.2 parrots at 53 out of 81 1 km2 grid cells (65%) spread evenly across 23,000 km2 of the south-west slopes of NSW (Manning et al., 2006). As the sampling strategy was designed to avoid bias, these figures could be extrapolated to the whole landscape, resulting in a figure considerably larger than 10,000 individuals.
·  Since 2000, birds have returned to breed in the north of the Australian Capital Territory (ACT), from which they almost disappeared in the late 1960s (Taylor COG, 1992).
·  There has been a 61% increase in reporting rate between the average for 1977–1981 and the average for 1998–2009 (years with >1,000 returns within extent of occurrence (EOO) of superb parrots; Bird Atlas data (cited in Garnett et al., 2011).
·  There have been no reports of disappearances from any site in recent decades.
Despite the evidence of at least a stable population, a case can be made to suggest that a decline will occur in the future based on the loss of hollow-bearing trees – but this loss will be outside the three generation time period.
Based on the information available there is insufficient evidence to list this species under this criterion. However, the purpose of this consultation document is to elicit additional information to better understand the species status.

Criterion 2: Geographic distribution (based on either of B1 or B2)

B1. Extent of occurrence estimated to be very restricted <100 km2, restricted <5000 km2 or limited<20 000 km2

B2. Area of occupancy estimated to be very restricted <10 km2, restricted <500 km2 or limited<2000km2

AND

Geographic distribution is precarious for the survival of the species,

(based on at least two of a–c)

a. Severely fragmented or known to exist at a limited location.