My work takes me to some beautiful and remote places in Tasmania, and my aim is to improve the sustainability of forest management.

Meet Dejan Stojanovic, who is working to save the iconic Tasmanian swift parrot which is facing population collapse and could become extinct within 16 years.

Dejan, what do you do at ANU?

Postdoctoral Fellow at the Fenner School. My research focuses on the conservation biology of forest dependent animals, and I've been working for the last five years on swift parrots in Tasmania.

My work takes me to some beautiful and remote places in Tasmania, and my aim is to improve the sustainability of forest management.

 What is your favourite spot on campus? You like it because?

I like Sullivans Creek - it's the place that most reminds me of being in the field. I go there when I'm sick of the office to watch the wildlife, and watching the water rats and swans is a great tonic for a computer induced headache.

If you were free for an afternoon, you would.......

I find the bush very calming, and I spend as much time as I can in the forest. Going for a bush walk is my default activity for a free afternoon. 

Tell us a bit about your research, why you choose it.

Nobody had looked at the breeding biology of swift parrots in detail before despite widespread concern for their conservation status.

I thought my PhD would be well spent trying to understand the life cycle of swift parrots. By researching their nests, I discovered a previously unknown threat - predation by sugar gliders. 

What is the best part about your research?

To research swift parrot nests I have to climb trees in the Tasmanian forests. That is both the best and worst part of my research.

I have had amazing and horrible experiences in trees in Tasmania.

When the sun is shining and I'm sitting at the top of a forest giant overlooking the forest out to the southern ocean, it is easily the most serene experience to be had. 

However, I've also had to climb trees in rain, hail, snow and wind. Those are the days I envy office workers.

What would a day in the field look like?

The average day starts with a drive to the forest. Swift parrots move to a new place each year so the location of my field sites changes a lot.

To get to nests, I hike into the forest carrying ropes, a slingshot, a harness, motion activated cameras and my bird processing gear.

When I find a nest, I use the slingshot to fire a line into the tree, and haul up my rope so I can climb up to the nest.

At the nest, I collect the nestlings and bring them back to the ground, where I band them, collect blood and measurements, and then quickly return them to the nest.

I then deploy a camera at the nest to record anything that happens at the nest, and I come back every two or three weeks to swap cameras over.

On average I visit 5-10 nests per day, five days a week for about four months every spring/summer.

Why did you decide to call on crowd funding to save the swift parrot?

We have raised $66,000 thanks to the generosity of the public. The funds will be used to buy nest boxes for swift parrots and other endangered Tasmanian birds.

The project doesn't easily fit the mould of most grants currently available, but the work urgently needs doing. So we decided to try out crowd funding and it was a total success. We're really excited about the possibilities crowd funding has raised and I'm already planning the next round.

Why is it so important to stop the extinction of the Swift Parrot, the survival of the forty spotted pardalotes and orange bellied parrots?

These birds only breed in Tasmania, and that place is in urgent need of protection.

These plight of these birds is symptomatic of deeper conservation problems afflicting Tasmania. By getting their conservation right, we'll be on track to addressing broader issues of sustainability and natural resource management.

Where to next?

We are in the process of trying to set up a project to look at forest owls in Tasmania, and I'm seeking expressions of interest from prospective PhD students. Masked owls are also endangered, and are an important link in the forest ecosystem, but they've barely been researched. I'm really keen to tackle the challenges posed by masked owls, so if you're looking for a PhD and the Tasmanian forests appeal to you, get in contact with me.

Is it too late to donate?

The campaign is still open and we are still accumulating funds. We've also laid out plans for what we'll do with any funds we receive, so check out our Pozible fundraiser page and support our work.