The Aussie Parrot That Needs Taylor Swift-Level Attention

A decade ago, when I first learned about them, Swift Parrots were in trouble. Swifties were rare, beautiful, and declining. They were in trouble, but with a population of over 2,000, they didn’t yet feel, at least to me, like a species right on the brink of extinction.

Now they are.

Work cited by ANU and BirdLife Australia suggests there are now fewer than 500 Swifties left in the wild. That’s a catastrophic collapse in only a decade. BirdLife warns they could be extinct in five years if current trends continue.

Swifties are one of only two migratory parrots in the world. They breed in Tasmania in spring and summer, then their entire population crosses Bass Strait to spend winter feeding across south-eastern mainland Australia. They’re true to their name: fast, nomadic, dazzlingly green. But they’re utterly dependent on healthy eucalypt forests in more than one state.

And that’s exactly the problem. To survive, Swift Parrots need two things at once: safe breeding habitat in Tasmania and enough winter foraging habitat on the mainland. We are failing them on both fronts.

Loss of breeding habitat through native forest logging and intensive monoculture forestry is a significant threat to their persistence. Native forests where Swift Parrot calls can still be heard are still being logged. This is madness. Australia still needs to do far better at protecting the mature, hollow-bearing and flowering forests these birds rely on, while also urgently tackling the introduced predator pressure pushing them to the brink.

Since writing this piece, Dr Simon Grove has drawn my attention to his 2026 review paper, which argues that introduced sugar gliders, which prey on nesting females, eggs and chicks in Tasmania, are an urgent and immediate driver of the Swift parrot's continued decline. That doesn't make forest protection irrelevant: Swift Parrots still need mature hollow-bearing trees and flowering eucalypts. But it does mean the conservation response has to be honest about the scale and urgency of the predation problem. Sugar gliders are cute and an Australian species. But they don't belong in Tasmania.

On the mainland, the story is less dramatic but just as deadly: death by a thousand cuts. Swifties depend on flowering eucalypt woodlands and forests across a vast winter range, but habitat clearing, fragmentation and climate change are reducing their food resources. New ANU-led work published in 2025 warns that cumulative winter habitat loss is continuing and could worsen under current planning settings.

For the Swift Parrot, introduced sugar gliders in Tasmania are not a side issue: they appear to pose a profound breeding-season threat, especially because they prey on nesting females as well as eggs and chicks. Habitat protection, predator control and mainland winter habitat protection all need to be part of the answer. And, as the head of the Invasive Species Council has noted to me, there is also a real danger of disease introduction through the exotic pet trade. Surely Australians can enjoy pets without creating yet more risks for our already imperilled native fauna.

There’s another bitter truth here. If this bird were as famous as Taylor Swift, governments would be feeling a lot more pressure. Imagine if hundreds of thousands of Aussies knew that one of our most extraordinary birds - a migratory parrot found nowhere else on Earth - is being driven towards extinction while its breeding forests are still being logged. Imagine if people were demanding answers from the Tasmanian Government with even a fraction of the energy they bring to pop culture.

The Swift Parrot should be a household name. It should be on posters, in classrooms, on news bulletins and in ministers’ offices. Instead, it’s sliding out of existence and into obscurity.

And that, frankly, is part of the scandal.

Call to Action

If you’d like to help Swifties, support the Bob Brown Foundation which is fighting for its habitat in Tasmania. And support science which is essential for evidence-based recovery actions, including urgent action on introduced sugar glider predation.

Photo credit: ANU.