ANU has found a solution for the threat posed by parasitic flies

Scientists at ANU have found an ingenious way to protect forty-spotted pardalote chicks from a major threat. SEE THE FINDINGS >>

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THE nesting instincts of one of Tasmania’s rarest birds have been harnessed to help the birds save their own babies from a major threat.

Parasitic flies (Passeromyia longicornis) are a major cause of death among baby forty-spotted pardalotes, killing as many as nine out of every 10 chicks.

Forty-spotted pardalote - pic by ANU researchers who have discovered a new way to help birds fumigate their own nests to protect chicks from parasites, using chicken feather dispensers with feathers laced with bird-friendly insecticide. The birds take the feathers to make their nests, thus protecting their chicks from parasites

Researchers at the Australian National University (ANU) have found a clever way to help pardalotes “self-fumigate” their nest to protect their young from deadly parasites.

The ANU team created wire dispensers stuffed with sterilised chicken feathers that were treated with bird-safe insecticide and hung them in trees near pardalote nests.

“Manually spraying pardalote nests with a bird safe insecticide has proven to be effective, but the birds nest high in trees so finding and accessing their nests is very difficult,” PhD researcher Ms Fernanda Alves said.

Feather dispensers for forty-spotted pardalote nests. Picture by FERNANDA ALVES

“Pardalotes spend a lot of time looking for bird feathers to build their nests with, so we decided to make use of this natural instinct to get insecticide into nests

“The results were fantastic. Birds took the treated feathers back to their nests and as a result 95 per cent of the chicks survived – whereas those that used untreated feathers had only an eight per cent survival rate.

“These feather dispensers provide us with a very cheap and effective way to improve nest survival of forty-spotted pardalotes.”

Ms Alves said protecting the chicks from the parasites could be crucial to the endangered species’ survival.

Forty-spotted pardalote nest and eggs. Pic by Fernanda Alves

“This species has already suffered major population declines due to habitat loss. This parasite could now lead to the extinction of this unique species if nothing is done,” she said.

The research has been published in the scientific journal Animal Conservation.

The forty-spotted pardalote is found only in Tasmania.

It prefers forests and woodlands close to the coast, and lives in fragmented population in southern Tasmania and on Flinders, Bruny and Maria islands.