Large flock of rare swift parrots seen near Port Macquarie

Large flock of critically endangered swift parrots seen near Port Macquarie Mon 1 Jun 2026 at 10:02am In short: A flock of about 50 critically endangered swift parrots has been spotted at Lake Cathie, in northern NSW. The sighting is seen as significant as hardly any swift parrots were seen in NSW during their winter migration from Tasmania last year. What's next? Conservationists are working with the species to boost its numbers, with key threats including habitat loss and predators raiding nests. Avid birdwatcher, James Bennett, was out looking for a rare bird recently near Port Macquarie when he heard a distinctive call that piqued his excitement. "For the last month or so, I have been checking areas for swift parrots, which are a winter migrant … some years they miss these spots, but it's always worth checking," he said. "It was flogging down with rain, and I had the windows down in the car listening for their call … it's a very distinctive call, and when you hear it, you know." Mr Bennett alerted other birdwatchers and they recorded not just one or two, but a large flock of about 50 birds at Lake Cathie, south of Port Macquarie, on the New South Wales Mid North Coast. It is a significant sighting of a species, which conservationists estimate is down to between 750 to 1,500 birds in the wild. Swift parrots breed in Tasmania during the summer before migrating to the mainland in search of food in the cooler months. Last year, hardly any were seen in NSW. "Whenever you spot one … it's pretty special, your stomach drops, and you get pretty excited,"Mr Bennett said. "They really are an incredible looking bird with their bright scarlet coloured face, long pointed tail and very unique call and feeding antics." Significant northern sightings BirdLife Australia's regent honeyeater recovery advisor, Mick Roderick, said the sighting was encouraging after last year, when most of the swift parrot population did not migrate further north than Victoria. He said in addition to the 50 recorded around Lake Cathie, there had been recent reports of swift parrots elsewhere on the Mid North Coast, including 10 at Crescent Head. They have also been recorded around Sydney and the NSW Hunter region, and even a couple north of the Queensland border at Brisbane. "It's really exciting given we barely had any swift parrots in all of NSW last year," he said. "We've had more in NSW before the end of May this year than in all of 2025." Swift parrots fussy eaters Mr Roderick said it indicated food sources were probably more favourable in NSW than Victoria this year. "Because we are seeing so many, so early, this year in NSW — and two birds in Brisbane — it really does suggest their food sources in Victoria are nowhere near as good as they were last year," he said. "It really points to the importance of having many options for swift parrots. "Having the intact forests around the NSW Mid North Coast is a very important thing for migrants and nomadic nectar feeding birds like swift parrots." Mr Roderick said "swifties" were relatively fussy eaters. "Similar to [critically endangered] regent honeyeaters, they tend to go for the really high-quality food sources, whether it's a blossom source, or lerp," he said. Lerp is a sugary protective casing around psyllids, which are tiny insects that feed on the leaves of native trees. "It's like a little umbrella the psyllids cover themselves with to protect themselves from prey," Mr Roderick said. "But birds have learnt that it is actually a nice, sugary and carbohydrate-rich food source." Threats remain Mr Roderick said there was a flock of nearly 700 swift parrots around Bendigo in Victoria last year, which was an encouraging sighting. But he said significant threats remained, including habitat loss and predation, primarily by the sugar glider. The Australian National University leads a team of conservation biologists working with the swift parrot to try and boost its numbers. "They [swift parrots] are probably doing better than we thought maybe five years ago … it's difficult to say there's evidence of recovery, there might be a few more birds, but that's about it," Mr Roderick said. The appearance of swift parrots at Lake Cathie comes after the recent sighting of another critically endangered bird in the town, the regent honeyeater. "That is pretty special, not many places get both birds these days,"Mr Roderick said.