The Tasmanian government has been accused of refusing to join a recovery effort for the migratory swift parrot, as the population of the bird collapses under pressure from predatory sugar gliders and logging.
Australia's fastest nectar eater adds a flash of colour to the woodlands of Southern Queensland, New South Wales and Victoria in winter. But the parrot is under severe pressure in its Tasmanian summer breeding grounds.
There, Australian National University scientists have found its nests are being raided by predatory gliders as native forest logging reduces its potential habitat.
The federal government is considering an urgent bid to list the bird as critically endangered.
Meanwhile, Tasmania has refused to participate in an inter-governmental swift parrot recovery team, freedom-of-information documents show.
The team from all of the other range states and the Commonwealth is trying to map out ways to save the bird.
Meeting minutes obtained under a freedom-of-information request by the Wilderness Society said there was "serious concern" at a lack of representation by Tasmanian team members.
"Urgent need for Tasmania's environment agency to be actively involved in recovery process," the minutes of the April meeting said.
According to the minutes, the Tasmanian government was unable to provide a reason for the refusal.
With only around 2000 birds surviving in the wild, ANU scientist Dejan Stojanovic said the parrot's plight was so troubled it was vital to have all players concerned with its survival in the same room.
The Wilderness Society said the government was stalling over the team's work, to avoid scrutiny of habitat logging.
Documents released in March showed the state government ignored its own internal expert advice to push ahead with logging of swift parrot habitat.
"They don't want to be involved in the recovery team, principally because Forestry Tasmania operations are causing substantial damage to swift parrot habitat," said the Wilderness Society's national forest campaign manager Warrick Jordan.
Mr Jordan said environmentalists had raised concerns about the parrot's fate in Tasmanian forests with federal Environment Minister Greg Hunt, who had replied that, if the logging was conducted under a Regional Forest Agreement, then it was the state's concern.
"The actions and failures of the Tasmanian and Australian governments are driving the swift parrot to extinction," Mr Jordan said. "It's that simple."
A Tasmanian government spokesman said it was "continuing to have constructive discussions" with the federal government about the state's role in the recovery team.
The spokesman said the government was "absolutely committed" to the protection of the parrot, including securing its habitat protection across 968,000 hectares of Tasmania.
Mr Hunt told the Wilderness Society that he expected the Threatened Species Scientific Committee to advise him in September whether the bird would be listed as critically endangered. The national threatened species recovery hub is also considering funding an investigation into the nesting crisis.
Dr Stojanovic said a case to up-list the bird was before IUCN, the International Union for Conservation of Nature, as reports of the rare bird's appearance in mainland states filter in.
"We just had a report in, of all places, Macleod railway station in Melbourne. About 20 birds were seen drinking from a puddle," he said.
