Breeding problem for Ground Parrots

Long-billed Corella      Photo: Wikipedia

David McFarland in his 1989 report (see previous posting) put together a table (below) which compares egg failure in several species of Australian parrot. All the Ground Parrot data refers to Eastern Ground Parrots. There is almost no data available on Western Ground Parrot egg failure.

Note that the egg failure excludes predation and desertion. Although the number of Ground Parrot eggs is separated into three studies, each of the failure percentages is higher than any of the other species listed.

Nests and Nesting

Top photo shows adult bird (male) on a feeding visit to its nest. The domed cavity can faintly be seen.

The lower image is a view of the floor of the nest with three nestlings.

Photos are Eastern Ground Parrots: Norman Chaffer estate copyright Australian Museum.

(These images were not taken as part of the McFarland study.)












The text below is taken from "The Ground Parrot Pezoporus wallicus wallicus (Kerr) in Queensland: Habitat, Biology and Conservation", by Dr David McFarland, April 1989. This report was prepared for the Division of Conservation, Parks and Wildlife; Department of Environment and Conservation, Queensland.

......juveniles were ever heard calling  ('teek' call) in sites burnt within the previous three years."

Note: It is probable that the general pattern of nest-building and nesting is fairly similar for Eastern and Western Ground Parrots. However there will be some differences. For example, work done on Western Ground Parrots (WGPs) in 2006 showed that male birds feed brooding females away from the nest. This has been one of the difficulties which has prevented researchers finding the nests of WGPs.

The plant species listed incompletely in (c) Empodisma minor, Xanthorrhoea fulva, Banksia oblongifolia.

Home Ranges of Eastern Ground Parrots

David McFarland's radio-tracking work on Ground Parrots in Cooloola National Park, South-Eastern Queensland yielded some information about their home range.

Home ranges are very likely to overlap to some extent. Each of the figures below shows the same place. 

At the time of  radio-tracking in each season, between three and five parrots, including the tagged bird were flushed in area A (Figure 2, a). (McFarland, 1991)

There was little overlap in foraging ranges among tracked individuals, and no two tagged birds foraged in the same area on the same day (Figure 2, a-c) (McFarland, 1991)

Figure 19 is taken from McFarland, David, 1989. The Ground Parrot Pezoporus wallicus wallicus (Kerr) in Queensland: Habitat, Biology and Conservation. For Division of Conservation, Parks and Wildlife; Department of Environmet and Conservation, Queensland.

Figure 2 and Table 4 are from McFarland, David. 1991. The biology of the Ground Parrot, Pezoporus wallicus, in Queensland. 1. Microhabitat Use, Activity Cycle and Diet. Wildlife Research, 1991, Volume 18. (p.176 and p.174).

An Eastern Ground Parrot of Cooloola

There will be at least two more postings on the 1980s work of David McFarland on the Eastern Ground Parrots of Cooloola National Park.  Below is a drawing by David. He donated the use of the drawing to the Friends of the Western Ground Parrot, when the group first formed, in 2003. At that time there was very little illustrative material available.  

Calling behaviour of Ground Parrots in Queensland

Much new information was discovered during David McFarland's field study of Eastern Ground Parrots at Cooloola, Queensland. The main points regarding calling behaviour:

# Calling rate increased when bird density increased  

# Dusk and dawn calling activity continued throughout the year

# The timing of dusk and dawn calling was significantly tied to specific light intensities

# Duration of calling peaked in winter with a co-incidence of full or almost full moon

# Four different calls were in common use: level, rising, double rising, stutter rising

# Frequency of level calls varied between dawn (less frequent) and dusk (more frequent): other calls did not vary in frequency 

# Frequency of level calls (frequently used while flying) decreased as the fire-free interval increased (more vegetation and presumably less need to fly)

Below is the section on calling behaviour, copied from the April 1989 report to the Division of Conservation, Parks and Wildlife; Department of Environment and Conservation, Queensland. The report is entitled

The Ground Parrot: Pezoporus wallicus wallicus (Kerr) in Queensland: Habitat, Biology and Conservation.

Queensland Ground Parrot study 1989

The extract below is from the summary of a report on three years' work on the Eastern Ground Parrot in subtropical Queensland. The report was 'The Ground Parrot Pezoporus wallicus wallicus (Kerr) in Queensland: habitat, Biology and Conservation'. It was written by Dr David McFarland, dated April 1989, and was prepared for: Division of Conservation, Parks and Wildlife, Department of Environment and Conservation, Queensland. Later, much of this report appeared in the journal, Wildlife Research. 

In South-East Queensland,Eastern Ground Parrots used to occur from Fraser Island to the New South Wales border. By the time this work was under way, they were to be found in only three isolated locations in that State.

As well as his scientific study of the Ground Parrot, David McFarland made a pen and ink drawing of a bird in the wild (see below). It has been coloured by a different hand more recently.

Those familiar with Western Ground Parrots will  note that the relation of fire age and the Ground Parrot is very different in Queensland from in WA where birds prefer long unburnt heathland for nesting. The Queensland heathlands are both wetter and warmer than those in Western Australia so plant growth is faster in Queensland, accelerating the cycle. Both the Eastern Ground Parrots of Queensland and Western Ground Parrots, need high plant diversity in their habitat so Ground Parrot populations in both States suffer if the fires are so frequent as to deplete plant diversity. In the 1980s, when study of the Western Ground Parrot began, numbers were much lower than those at the same time in Queensland.

Food, Eastern Ground Parrot, Victoria

This posting, like the previous two postings, is derived from the 1980 Andrew and Isles report entitled "A study of the ground parrot (Pezoporus wallicus) in Victoria."

These days there would be more stringent controls on the study methods with much more care taken to avoid death of the subjects.

The illustration was taken from "The Atlas of Living Australia". The map shows the distribution of the sedge Leptocarpus tenax, and on the right are some specimens of the species. This plant often grows as a dense almost pure stand. It occurs over most of the range of the Ground Parrot and both in this study and from other observations, has been recorded as a food for Ground Parrots.