Shutter clamps parrot predators

SWIFT parrot researchers have developed a nest shutter device to protect the critically endangered species from its number one predator in Tasmania — the sugar glider.

Scientists from the Australian National University and the National Environmental Science Programme have started a crowd-funding campaign to try to prevent parrot deaths by gliders, which feast on nesting birds, chicks and eggs.

There are thought to be fewer than 2000 of the nomadic parrots left in the wild because of habitat degradation — as its blue gum homes are mostly on unprotected land — and predators. From September, swifts nest and breed where gum trees are flowering best — the East Coast this year.

ANU conservation scientist Dejan Stojanovic said the East Coast was known to have very high number of sugar gliders, resulting in many parrot deaths over the years.

Dr Stojanovic and his team have developed a $400 device to protect the parrots in their nests during the night.

“Sugar gliders are active at night when the parrots are sleeping in their nests,” he said. “So we have developed a sugar glider-excluding device that locks the front door of nest boxes at night ... but opens during daylight.”

The door is triggered by a light sensor to open at sunrise and to close at sunset. It is powered by a solar panel and a back-up battery. Dr Stojanovic said researchers were undertaking crowd-funding as breeding got under way.