09 de febrero de 2024

LPS outbreaks in Grafton NSW and Qld

Hi everyone,

While it was a slow start to the LPS season in October/November, it is unfortunately ending with a roar. The last month has seen an ongoing outbreak of LPS of unprecedented distribution and numbers of impacted lorikeets, particularly in Grafton, New South Wales and south-east Queensland. It is devastating to see the magnitude of lorikeets affected, and we are grateful to the efforts made by wildlife veterinarians, vet nurses, and wildlife rehabilitators to rehabilitate and release these birds.

If you haven't seen, please find below a number of recent articles on the LPS outbreak:

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-02-01/lorikeet-paralysis-syndrome-affecting-hundreds-birds-in-grafton/103407968

https://www.smh.com.au/environment/conservation/thousands-of-rainbow-lorikeets-are-unable-to-fly-and-vets-don-t-know-why-20240208-p5f3ch.html

We would like to remind our members that if you find a sick or injured lorikeet, please ring your local wildlife rescue group or safely transport the bird to your local veterinarian. In response to the LPS outbreak, WIRES has established an Emergency Lorikeet Drop-Off and Triage Centre in Grafton. Please see the link below for more information:

https://www.wires.org.au/media-releases/wires-launches-emergency-response-to-assist-massive-numbers-of-lps-affected-rainbow-lorikeets#:~:text=LPS%20primarily%20affects%20wild%20rainbow,ingestion%20of%20a%20toxic%20plant.

Thanks to this media coverage we have seen a huge increase in members and observations made to the project. I would like to welcome everyone who has joined during the last couple of months! For those who have recently joined and would like to know more about the project and the syndrome itself, please find below some useful links:

https://www.sydney.edu.au/science/our-research/research-areas/veterinary-science/lorikeet-paralysis-syndrome-project.html

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/avj.13107

https://wildlifehealthaustralia.com.au/Portals/0/ResourceCentre/FactSheets/Avian/Lorikeet_Paralysis_Syndrome.pdf

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bg0F486rjWU

Thank-you for your interest in the project and we look forward to seeing your observations. We have reached 193 members and 420 observations!

Stay safe and happy Rainbow lorikeet spotting!

Lauren, David, Maya, Holly

Publicado el febrero 9, 2024 05:45 MAÑANA por lozb97 lozb97 | 4 comentarios | Deja un comentario

07 de diciembre de 2023

Public feeding of Rainbow lorikeets

Hi everyone,

Happy Friday! While we are always on the lookout for what the lorikeets are feeding on naturally, we are also asking you to report if lorikeets are being fed by the public in our study area, and if so we want to know what they are being fed.

We would love to hear from all of our members, so feel free to either make an observation on our iNaturalist project page, leave a comment on this journal post, or send @lozb97 a message through iNaturalist.

Stay safe and Happy Rainbow Lorikeet spotting!

Lauren, David, Maya, Holly

Publicado el diciembre 7, 2023 11:24 TARDE por lozb97 lozb97 | 5 comentarios | Deja un comentario

22 de noviembre de 2023

Start of the LPS season for 2023

Hi everyone,

In the last couple of weeks, the LPS cases have started to trickle in coming into summer. Cases have been seen in the following suburbs:

  • Tewantin, Nambour, Cooroy, Golden Beach, Petrie, Paddington, Marsden, Kingston, Underwood, Shailer Park

We are reaching out to our citizen scientists who commonly visit these areas to let us know what the lorikeets are feeding on or what is fruiting/blooming in the area, either by making an observation to the project or leaving a comment on this journal post.

Lastly, a welcome to our new members who have joined the project in the last couple of months: @narelle219 , @zx6roo and @mbrc . Thank-you for your interest in the project and we look forward to seeing your observations! This puts us at 139 members and 375 observations!

Stay safe and happy Rainbow lorikeet spotting!

Lauren, David, Maya, Holly

Publicado el noviembre 22, 2023 12:33 MAÑANA por lozb97 lozb97 | 0 comentarios | Deja un comentario

28 de junio de 2023

LPS article in Scientific American

Hi everyone,

You may remember when we introduced you to Ayla last year, who was writing an article about the Lorikeet Paralysis Syndrome project. In some very exciting news the article has been recently published by Scientific American!

Please feel free to have a read about the amazing work happening on lorikeet paralysis syndrome:
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-mystery-of-australias-paralyzed-parrots/?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=socialflow

Keep safe and happy rainbow lorikeet spotting!

Lauren, David, Maya, Holly

Publicado el junio 28, 2023 01:09 MAÑANA por lozb97 lozb97 | 0 comentarios | Deja un comentario

07 de junio de 2023

Continuing the hunt for lorikeet roosts!

Hi Everyone,

We hope everyone enjoyed listening to the LPS podcast!

You may recall a couple of months ago we made a call to our citizen scientists to let us know the location of any lorikeet roosts they were aware of. Thank you to those that sent through some locations!

We are still on the lookout for lorikeet roost sites, particularly in and around the Brisbane area. For those of you who have walked or driven past a roost site, you know they are hard to miss, as the birds make their presence known with their loud calls. For those who have not had the pleasure, a lorikeet roost site is where large numbers of lorikeets congregate at night. Best time to find one is around dusk when they make their way back to their roost, calling and squabbling amongst themselves.

We would love to hear from all of our members, so feel free to either leave a comment on this journal post, or send @lozb97 a message through iNaturalist. Speaking of members, this week we would like to welcome a new members: @rrachh We look forward to seeing your observations.

Stay safe and Happy Rainbow Lorikeet spotting!

Lauren, David, Maya, Holly

Publicado el junio 7, 2023 03:43 MAÑANA por lozb97 lozb97 | 3 comentarios | Deja un comentario

19 de abril de 2023

LPS Podcast

Hi everyone,

We hope everyone had a lovely Easter!

In some very exciting news, there is a podcast now available on Lorikeet Paralysis Syndrome! Around the end of the year 2022, some of our team were interviewed about LPS and the amazing work our citizen scientists are doing to try and find the cause of the disease.

https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/ecological-wonders/id369688745?i=1000603090084

Here is the link to the podcast, the story on lorikeets paralysis syndrome starts at around 16:50.

We hope you all have a listen and enjoy! Its a great piece that highlights the important work you do as citizen scientists.

Keep safe and happy rainbow lorikeet spotting!

Lauren, David, Maya, Holly

Publicado el abril 19, 2023 12:11 MAÑANA por lozb97 lozb97 | 0 comentarios | Deja un comentario

12 de abril de 2023

Influx of LPS cases from Noosaville

Hi everyone,

In the last couple of weeks, we have been seeing an influx of LPS cases from the Noosaville area.

We are reaching out to our citizen scientists who commonly visit that area to let us know what the lorikeets are feeding on, either by making an observation to the project or leaving a comment on this journal post.

Stay safe and Happy Rainbow Lorikeet spotting!

Lauren, David, Maya, Holly

Publicado el abril 12, 2023 12:10 MAÑANA por lozb97 lozb97 | 1 comentario | Deja un comentario

14 de marzo de 2023

On the hunt for lorikeet roosts and plantings along the highway

Hi Everyone,

While we are still on the lookout for known lorikeet roosts, we are also hoping to gain a better understanding of what plants can be found along the major highways in our study area!

Without causing any accidents! We would love to hear from you about what plants you commonly see along the highways. No need for any photos, just leave a comment on this journal post or or send @lozb97 a message through iNaturalist.

This week we would like to welcome a new member: @clearleaf . We look forward to seeing your observations.

Stay safe and Happy Rainbow Lorikeet spotting!

Lauren, David, Maya, Holly

Publicado el marzo 14, 2023 10:21 TARDE por lozb97 lozb97 | 0 comentarios | Deja un comentario

22 de febrero de 2023

On the hunt for lorikeet roosts!

Hi Everyone,

To help us in our investigation of LPS, we are looking to gain a better understanding of rainbow lorikeet movements in our study area. And who knows the study area better than you! Our citizen scientists!

We are asking our citizen scientists to let us know the location of any lorikeet roosts they are aware of. For those of you who have walked or driven past a roost site, you know they are hard to miss, as the birds make their presence known with their loud calls. For those who have not had the pleasure, a lorikeet roost site is where large numbers of lorikeets congregate at night.

We would love to hear from all of our members, so feel free to either leave a comment on this journal post, or send @lozb97 a message through iNaturalist. Speaking of members, this week we would like to welcome two new members: @dpcdpc and @bron112. We look forward to seeing your observations.

Stay safe and Happy Rainbow Lorikeet spotting!

Lauren, David, Maya, Holly

Publicado el febrero 22, 2023 12:08 MAÑANA por lozb97 lozb97 | 0 comentarios | Deja un comentario

08 de febrero de 2023

LPS Frontline workers

Hi Everyone,

For those of you interested in the story behind our citizen science project, LPS presentation in lorikeets, or for those who want to see wildlife veterinarians in action, please find a link below to a youtube video from RSPCA QLD on the disease:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bg0F486rjWU

One of the veterinarians in the video, Claude, has been a driving force behind LPS research. It is devastating to see the magnitude of lorikeets affected, but truly heartening to see the efforts made by wildlife veterinarians, vet nurses, and wildlife rehabilitators to rehabilitate and release these birds. I can definitely recommend this video as a must see for our members, as it gives you an understanding of the importance behind your iNaturalist contributions.

Speaking of members, I would like to welcome @clarey11 to the project. We look forward to seeing your observations.

Keep safe and Happy Rainbow Lorikeet spotting!

Lauren, David, Maya, Holly

Publicado el febrero 8, 2023 11:15 TARDE por lozb97 lozb97 | 2 comentarios | Deja un comentario