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Swift parrot
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Swift parrot
The swift parrot (Lathamus discolor), also known by the palawa kani name swift waylitja, is a species of broad-tailed parrot, found only in southeastern Australia. The species breeds in Tasmania during the summer and migrates north to southeastern mainland Australia from Griffith-Warialda in New South Wales and west to Adelaide in the winter. It is a nomadic migrant, and it settles in an area only when there is food available. The Swift Parrot was voted 2023 Bird of the Year in The Guardian Australia and BirdLife Australia's biennial poll.
The species is critically endangered, and the severe predation by introduced sugar gliders (Petaurus breviceps) on breeding females and nests in some locations has demonstrated an unexpected but potentially serious new threat. Genetic evidence for the effective population size suggests that the minimum potential population size is now around 300–500 individual swift parrots. This supports the results of earlier studies that use demographic information about swift parrots to predict that the species could be extinct by 2031.
Habitat for the critically endangered swift parrot is being "knowingly destroyed" by logging because of government failures to manage the species' survival.
The swift parrot's name is related to its speed during the flight and wing. The name swift waylitja is derived from the palawa kani word waylitja which means parrot.
The surgeon John White described the swift parrot in 1790 as the red-shouldered paroquet (Psittacus discolor). It was placed in the genus Lathamus by René Primevère Lesson in 1830.
Despite their superficial resemblance to lorikeets in appearance and behaviour, the swift parrot belongs to tribe Platycercini, making them more closely related to rosellas than to lorikeets. Like lorikeets, they possess brush-tipped tongues, although the "bristles" or papillae are shorter and more localised. Their close resemblance to more distantly-related genera is an example of convergent evolution.
A 2011 genetic study including nuclear and mitochondrial DNA found that the swift parrot was an early offshoot from a lineage giving rise to the genera Prosopeia, Eunymphicus and Cyanoramphus, diverging around 14 million years ago.
"Swift parrot" has been designated the official common name by the International Ornithologists' Union (IOC).
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Swift parrot
The swift parrot (Lathamus discolor), also known by the palawa kani name swift waylitja, is a species of broad-tailed parrot, found only in southeastern Australia. The species breeds in Tasmania during the summer and migrates north to southeastern mainland Australia from Griffith-Warialda in New South Wales and west to Adelaide in the winter. It is a nomadic migrant, and it settles in an area only when there is food available. The Swift Parrot was voted 2023 Bird of the Year in The Guardian Australia and BirdLife Australia's biennial poll.
The species is critically endangered, and the severe predation by introduced sugar gliders (Petaurus breviceps) on breeding females and nests in some locations has demonstrated an unexpected but potentially serious new threat. Genetic evidence for the effective population size suggests that the minimum potential population size is now around 300–500 individual swift parrots. This supports the results of earlier studies that use demographic information about swift parrots to predict that the species could be extinct by 2031.
Habitat for the critically endangered swift parrot is being "knowingly destroyed" by logging because of government failures to manage the species' survival.
The swift parrot's name is related to its speed during the flight and wing. The name swift waylitja is derived from the palawa kani word waylitja which means parrot.
The surgeon John White described the swift parrot in 1790 as the red-shouldered paroquet (Psittacus discolor). It was placed in the genus Lathamus by René Primevère Lesson in 1830.
Despite their superficial resemblance to lorikeets in appearance and behaviour, the swift parrot belongs to tribe Platycercini, making them more closely related to rosellas than to lorikeets. Like lorikeets, they possess brush-tipped tongues, although the "bristles" or papillae are shorter and more localised. Their close resemblance to more distantly-related genera is an example of convergent evolution.
A 2011 genetic study including nuclear and mitochondrial DNA found that the swift parrot was an early offshoot from a lineage giving rise to the genera Prosopeia, Eunymphicus and Cyanoramphus, diverging around 14 million years ago.
"Swift parrot" has been designated the official common name by the International Ornithologists' Union (IOC).
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