News
Wildlife Drones successfully track Swift Parrot flocks
In a previous post, I announced that Wildlife Drones was working with the Riverina Local Land Services to track swift parrots. As part of the project, we recently managed to find 60 swift parrots on Bush Heritage Australia’s Tarcutta Hills Reserve. This is the largest swift parrot flock ever recorded on the reserve.
We also managed to successfully radio-tag and track some of these fascinating birds, as reported on ABC News. This was despite the birds feeding on nectar in the tops of very tall trees.
Over the past month, Wildlife Drones has enabled us to track the movements of multiple tagged swift parrots simultaneously. By tracking with a drone, we have been able to identify new foraging and roosting sites. Interestingly, all of these sites happened to occur on private property. This finding highlights just how important private land conservation is for the swift parrot and other species.
This was a highly collaborative project between Wildlife Drones, ANU, Riverina Local Land Services, Bush Heritage Australia, Greening Australia and Murrumbidgee Landcare. Collaboration is essential in wildlife conservation. We all have a role to play in saving our species.
