Ironbark Environmental Arboriculture in the News
ABC 7.30 - By Natalie Whiting
Nesting hollows carved into trees to help save the critically endangered swift parrot have proved "amazingly" popular with the birds. More than 30 arborists travelled to Tasmania to carve out hollows in younger trees to make up the shortfall of natural hollows available for nesting. A fortnight later, seven pairs have claimed hollows and three eggs have been laid...
ABC 7.30 - Reporter Natalie Whiting
A chainsaw may not seem like the obvious solution for a bird facing extinction because of habitat loss, but a group of volunteer arborists are hoping it could be the key to saving the swift parrot. A short ferry ride from Tasmania's east coast, Bruny Island is a key battleground in the bid to save one of Australia's most endangered birds. There are only 2,000 swift parrots left in the world and they only breed in Tasmania.
ABC News - By Ted O'Connor; image Henry Cook
The sight of eggs in experimental nesting boxes has brought joy to researchers who say it marks a turning point in the fight to save the rare migratory swift parrot from extinction. The species, described as "bigger than a budgerigar but smaller than a rosella", is dispersed through Victoria and New South Wales, but only breed in eastern Tasmania where the logging has reduced their habitat...
The Guardian - By Melissa Davey; image Arco Images GmbH / Alamy/Alamy
The sound of chainsaws fills the forest of Bruny Island in Tasmania as a group of 30 arborists cut into white peppermint trees, which provide essential nesting for the endangered swift parrot. The arborists, from Victoria and Sydney, paid for their own flights and volunteered their time to climb into more than 100 trees and carve holes in them to provide safe nesting for the birds, which are fussy about where they will breed.
ABC News - By Felicity Ogilvie
A group of arborists from Victoria has volunteered to travel to Tasmania to carve out tree hollows for the critically endangered swift parrot. Five trees containing hollows the birds use for nesting were recently cut down by people collecting firewood in Buckland in south-east Tasmania. Tasmania Police tracked those who destroyed the trees to Hobart and the federal Department of the Environment is now investigating if the group broke national environment laws.
The Mercury - By Anne Mather
AN army of helpers has rushed to rebuild homes for swift parrots after illegal tree felling destroyed some of the favourite nesting trees of the critically endangered birds. The destruction of old-growth trees near Buckland, in a swift parrot hotspot, has sparked outrage and action across the nation.
Birdlife Australia - Latest News
Critically Endangered Regent Honeyeaters are being preyed on by an unlikely source. High-tech video surveillance cameras have revealed for the first time that some marsupials may be significant predators of the threatened honeyeaters’ eggs.
The Age - By Bridie Smith; image Nick Talbot
''The hollow has to be about half a metre deep; they don't like it any deeper … and they also don't seem to like it any shallower,'' said Victor Hurley, of the Department of Sustainability and Environment. The problem is that there are few trees with hollows which fit the bill. So Mr Hurley has to monitor and maintain the few existing sites in the species' state breeding stronghold in Wyperfeld National Park.