Swift parrots are icons of Tasmania’s old-growth forests, but they’re also pretty tricky to find. These highly nomadic birds settle in a different place each year to breed, leaving nesting sites deserted for years between breeding events. This mobility makes them fascinating to study, but a nightmare to conserve. Despite their elusive nature, we know enough about swift parrots to know they are under grave threat, particularly from Tasmania’s highly politicised logging industry. In the context of ongoing habitat loss to logging, swift parrots were listed as critically endangered, because of the impact of another surprising factor: predatory sugar gliders, an introduced species to Tasmania.