PhD student Amanda Edworthy (Langmore Group, EEG) spoke on ABC Radio National about her work with the 40-spotted pardalote, an endangered Tasmanian songbird. She discovered that a parasitic fly was causing extensive mortality of nestlings, but when nests were sprayed with insecticide, 90% of the chicks survived, as opposed to 15% with no insecticide. She is now trialling an idea that has been used successfully in the Galapagos, where cotton balls are soaked in insecticide and left in the bush for the birds to find and use for nesting material. Amanda thinks this will be important to help increase the population of pardalotes, but that long term forest management will need to include ways to decrease fly populations. (Photos: Angi Kim.)

Related links

• Cotton wool could save endangered Australian bird, ABC Radio AM interview,  31 August  2015
• One of Australia's most endangered birds facing threat from maggots, News ABC, 27 July 2015  
• What’s Killing the Endangered Forty-spotted Pardalote Tasmanian Geographic by Amanda Edworthy, 2 April 2015