Amazing encounter with a flock of Swifties

Bruny Island
I was working up in Newcastle, in the Newcastle area, which is a really important habitat for Swift Parrots and also another critically endangered bird, the Regent Honey-Eater.

Both species have very similar habitats in that wintering period. One day, I went for a drive down to Sydney, and on my way back, I'd heard there were some Swift Parrots in the area.

Now, I'd never seen them before. I've lived in Tasmania for a number of years. I bought a conservation block just outside of Hobart, that is, with Swift Parrot habitat, but I'd never seen one. And I stopped into this site, just south of Newcastle, and I saw my first Swift Parrot. But it wasn't one, it was 200! This was about 2017 or 18, and it's probably one of the largest flocks that's been seen for that species in a number of years.

They were very low, they were feeding on Swamp Mahogany, and just chattering away and roosting for the night. It was one of the most amazing experiences I've seen for a long time.

Then on a morning in 2023, I came to Bruny Island, and I saw 16 or so Swift Parrots looking around in search for hollows just on the northern side of Bruny, and that's the first time I've seen Swift Parrots here in Tasmania. And that's one my special experiences with nature, but I've got plenty more. I do love Parrots, and I have to say, they are amazing, amazing birds.

Swift parrot2 Kim Murray
The Swift Parrot, an amazing amazing bird. Image: Kim Murray

Share

You might like...

Mavista Bruny Island Warwick Berry

The incredible diversity of Bruny Island

Bruny Island is a really special place. It's got an incredible diversity of habitats. It's relatively undeveloped, relatively undamaged. So on Bruny Island you can see things like threatened species of birds, still breeding on this island, which is really a wonderful thing.

Read more
Closeup of Forty Spotted Pardalote Kim Murray

A hopeful road-map for saving the Forty Spotted Pardalote

There is a lot of positive stuff and a nice road map laid out to recover the endangered Forty Spotted Pardalote, including through a project that's being run by the Bruny Island Environment Network called the Threatened Woodland Birds of Bruny Island.

Read more
Dan Broun People In Nature 008

Video content creation for Nature

A Kuno guide for creating video content by experienced photo-journalist Dan Broun. This how to guide talks you through how to easily create shareable videos, interviews and film to tell the stories of nature and inspire and encourage the community to celebrate and protect nature

Read more
White bicycle amsterdam

De Fiets is Niets - The Bicycle Is Nothing

Today the Netherlands has a reputation as a kind of bicycling paradise. This was not inevitable but the result of a long and concerted effort.

Read more

Newsletter

Sign up to keep in touch with articles, updates, events or news from Kuno, your platform for nature