World Parrot Day 2023

World Parrot Day is celebrated every year on the date of 31 May promoting awareness about Parrots. Here on Norfolk Island the Green Parrot is endemic to Norfolk Island and is known by a few names Norfolk Island Parakeet, Norfolk Island Red Fronted Parakeet and its scientific name is Cyanoramphus cookie.

It took me a year to see my first Green Parrot, in 2012 I walked the National Park for hours in search of one and found a family feeding together in trees on the Bridle Track. At that stage there were only about 50 Green Parrots on Norfolk Island, and with improved breeding the numbers have increased, and I think last year, 2019, there were approximately 400 green parrots (my estimate, not confirmed).

Margaret Christian has introduced me to many of the Norfolk Island birds, and I enjoyed joining her on the “Green Eye Bird Tour”. If you wish to learn more, check out the Norfolk Island Birds Facebook page, Norfolk Island Birds | Facebook.

In recent years, the staff members at the National Park, volunteers and visiting specialist have been focused on assisting the Green Parrots especially in the breeding season. If you see any Green Parrots with coloured bands on their legs let the National Parks Rangers know. so they can document the bird’s location around Norfolk Island.

One of my most amazing photograph moments was photographing the Green Parrots mating in Palm Glen, in the Norfolk Island National Park. I took these photos on 14 April 2012. I have been told that, at that time, they were the only known photo of the Norfolk Island Green Parrots mating.

Since 2016, Australia Post has issued stamps with Norfolk Island historic events, Fauna and Flora and many other themes. On 31 January 2023, the first Norfolk Island stamp was issued for this year. This series is named “Lost birds of Norfolk Island” and they feature lovely artwork of Norfolk Island birds that are now extinct. The set contains two stamps and Minisheet, the $1.20 stamp features the Norfolk Island Pigeon, and the $2.40 stamp features the Norfolk Island Kaka. The artwork on the First Day Covers also includes two other extinct birds, the Norfolk Island Thrush, and the Long-tailed Triller. Since European arrival in 1788, Norfolk Island has lost five endemic bird species and five subspecies. This stamp issue features two of the larger forest birds that once inhabited this South Pacific territory: the Norfolk Island Pigeon and Norfolk Island Kaka.

Norfolk Island has lost about half of the endemic bird species. One of the extinct birds is the parrot, the Norfolk Island Kaka, nestor productus, which was first sighted by Captain James Cook in 1774 and illustrated by Captain John Hunter in 1790. The Kaka were hunted out on Norfolk Island by the early settlers as the Kaka were easy to hunt as they had evolved as ground habitats due to Norfolk Island being relatively predator free.

It is always wonderful to listen to the green parrots as they chatter and talk in the trees, especially in the early morning. It is always fantastic to see them and photograph them. Here are a few photos I have taken during the past year of a Norfolk Island Green Parrot visiting the trees next to our home

Betty Matthews

May 2023