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On the wall: 1,000 or fewer left in the wild
Orange-bellied parrot
86
Head count
December 2025
Neophema chrysogaster
Australia: breeds at Melaleuca, south-west Tasmania; winters in coastal Victoria and South Australia
Counted December 2025, by NRE Tasmania's Orange-bellied Parrot Tasmanian Program (released 22 December 2025).
The Orange-bellied parrot stands at 86, a head count of every wild bird back at Melaleuca from migration, counted in December 2025 by NRE Tasmania's Orange-bellied Parrot Tasmanian Program.
86 orange-bellied parrots came back to Melaleuca in December 2025, fewer than the year before, NRE Tasmania reports.
How it was counted
Each December, the wild parrots that have come back to Melaleuca from migration are counted bird by bird, and NRE Tasmania publishes the total. The December 2025 count takes in birds born at Melaleuca and birds bred in captivity and released there as juveniles.
A head count, not an estimate: 86 is every wild bird seen back at Melaleuca from migration as of December 2025, counted bird by bird.
Earlier figures
- 91 in December 2024: the previous count. Source: Tasmanian Department of Natural Resources and Environment (NRE Tas), Orange-bellied Parrot Tasmanian Program.
What moves it
The National Recovery Plan traces the decline to habitat lost or damaged, above all on the mainland coast where the birds winter. It also lists the risks of a very small population (inbreeding and a narrowing gene pool, competitors and predators, disease, chance events, obstacles on the migration route) and climate change.
- habitat loss and degradation, above all in the non-breeding range on the mainland coast, which the recovery plan says caused the decline. Source: Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning.
- risks of a very small population: loss of genetic diversity and inbreeding, chance events, predators and competitors, disease, and barriers on the migration route. Source: Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning.
- climate change. Source: Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning.
Who is helping
NRE Tasmania's Orange-bellied Parrot Tasmanian Program, with its partners on the OBP (Orange-bellied Parrot) Recovery Team, runs the continuing management of the species, breeding birds in captivity and releasing them at Melaleuca. NRE Tasmania says this work lifted the wild population from 17 birds in 2016 to 86 in 2025.
The next count
The count is annual. No date for the next count is known as of 12 November 2026.
Sources
- Tasmanian Department of Natural Resources and Environment (NRE Tas), Orange-bellied Parrot Tasmanian Program Last checked 12 November 2026.
- Department of Environment, Land, Water and PlanningNational Recovery Plan for the Orange-bellied Parrot Last checked 12 November 2026.
What changed
- 12 November 2026 Added to Live Species, on the wall (1,000 or fewer): 86 (Head count, December 2025).
Next on the wall
The letter
The letter comes once a month, on the first Thursday. It gives what changed on Live Species, one animal up close and the humans figure for contrast.