A crowdfunding campaign to cover the costs of volunteers monitoring the critically-endangered orange-bellied parrot in Tasmania’s south has had an “overwhelming” response.
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Needing $5000 to pay for the transport and equipment for volunteers to stake out the Melaleuca region, where the birds make their home, ornithologist and former parrot conservation program manager Mark Holdsworth put the call out for public support.
Volunteers are required to observe the orange-bellied parrots at feeding tables in Melaleuca twice a day, identifying each rare bird by its leg bands to ensure none are lost or injured, and make detailed observations for scientists in the conservation program.
This year 18 wild-born male birds and just three female birds made it back to Tasmania from their Victorian winter home.
Pairs of volunteers head into Tasmania’s far south-west for two weeks at a time between October and April, taking all their food and consumables in with them, to watch the birds.
Access to Melaleuca is limited to private flights which can cost around $710, including excess baggage fees for equipment, for the 25-35 volunteers each year.
Federal and state funding is no longer provided to manage the costs of volunteers, leaving the main costs on the shoulders of conservationists and support groups.
The Friends of the Orange Bellied Parrot group has been managing volunteer funding through third-party grants and gifts for the past few years, but this year, Mr Holdsworth said they were falling short by about $3000.
Mr Holdsworth said organisers were worried the potential shortfall could have risked cutting short the volunteer program, so he “had a lightbulb moment” and set up the crowdfunding campaign on Thursday.
By Friday afternoon the appeal had raised more than $3000 of its $5000 target.
Mr Holdsworth said the remainder balanced out the costs of the crowdfunding platform, and would pay for better quality equipment for volunteers.
“It’s been overwhelming actually, the response,” he said.
“I’m really happy.”
Despite a worrying start to the nesting season with so few wild-born females returning to Melaleuca, Mr Holdworth said the nesting season was looking slightly brighter with about 30-40 nestlings hatched, but it remained to be seen how many survived to maturity.