Where we work

Friends of the Orange-bellied Parrot (OBP) group works across the OBP's range with a focus on Tasmania's west coast, King Island and Melaleuca.

What we do

The objectives of our group are to:

Conduct migration and winter surveys in various locations from Strahan to Woolnorth and on King Island when funds are available.
Raise awareness of the plight of the OBP.
Raise funds to support the activities of volunteers and other recovery actions.
Help support the monitoring program at Melaleuca (SW Tasmania) including working bees.
Assist with any habitat management projects.

The group is overseen by a committee that is elected at an Annual General Meeting each September.

Wildcare news articles about our work are at the bottom of this page. In addition, you can read the transcript of a talk by Marianne Gee at Wildcare's AGM in May 2025.

Visit the gallery to view images of the Friends of the OBP in action.

Visit branch files to see newsletters from the OBP Recovery Team and other PDFs including links to OBP news, research papers and video footage.

OBP monitoring at Melaleuca

Volunteers with Natural Resources and Environment Tasmania (NRE Tas) observe Orange-bellied Parrots visiting the feed tables, recording individual leg bands and nest observations. This data is collected for the department's OBP Program staff to monitor survival and breeding success of wild and captive-bred release birds. While Friends of the OBP may assist the NRE OBP Program in various ways, we have no direct involvement with their volunteer program other than distributing information about the expression of interest process when it becomes available.

2026 migration surveys

10-11 and 17-18 October at Woolnorth - details will be available later in the year and will be emailed to members when registration opens.

Accommodation at Melaleuca

If you are a member of the Friends of the OBP and are selected by NRE as a volunteer for the OBP Summer Monitoring Program, member accommodation at Melaleuca may be available to you.

To request Friends of the OBP accommodation at Melaleuca please email friends.of.the.obp@gmail.com.

For all other enquiries about any aspect of volunteer work through NRE's OBP Program, including monitoring OBPs at Melaleuca or assisting at the OBP captive breeding facility near Hobart, please email volunteering@nre.tas.gov.au

Fundraising

We receive tax deductible donations to our fundraising through the "Support Friends of the OBP" portal that is on our webpage. Note that donations made through the "Donations" tab at the top of any of Wildcare's webpages go to the Tasmanian Nature Conservation Fund.

Friends of the OBP also receives income from Wildcare's online shop with 100% of profits on our merchandise supporting efforts to save the critically endangered Orange-bellied Parrot and the work of volunteer OBP monitors at Melaleuca.

Marianne Gee runs a Redbubble shop that features Orange-bellied Parrot designs, with all profits donated to Friends of the OBP. You can either browse all products from the home page or navigate through "collections" near the top of the page.

Everything in The OBP Shop is discounted by up to 40% from 24 to 29 June 2026. The most popular styles of t-shirts are 30% off.

On occasion, we have a stall at a market or festival:

Saturday 27 June - Kinda.Forward: small steps towards sustainability. At UTAS Inveresk Precinct, 2 Invermay Road, Launceston 10am to 4pm
Sunday 28 June - Long Beach Market 11am to 3pm
Saturday 4 July - Sorell Market 10am to 4pm

Contact us

Email friends.of.the.obp@gmail.com (Marianne Gee, President and representative to the National OBP Recovery Team).