Night Parrot

that second article is terribly-written, but this is great news indeed! From possibly extinct to this in just a few years.
 
the recordings of night parrot calls have finally been released a few days ago, and about time! The calls were always going to be the key to determining where and how many night parrots there are so conservation measures can be properly implemented.

There's a blog article here concerning the release, as well as some other information and links.
sunshinecoastbirds: Night Parrot: Longer Between Drinks Than We Thought
 
JenniMary said:
I haven't seen this before but sad to hear that it is endangered Endangered Night Parrot - QORF
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If you count the birds of the known populations it is critically endangered, but taking into account we know very little about the species and most of what we know has been discouvered the last couple of years, it could in theory be a very common bird. Most likely situation is though that the species is under threat but that it is more common than claimed now. This as stating that the species is very rare, does serve some other purposes making it easier to collect more information about it.
 
a new site has been found:

sunshinecoastbirds: Night Parrot Discovered in Goneaway National Park, Queensland
Legendary bushman John Young has discovered the Night Parrot in Goneaway National Park in western Queensland. Young's discovery brings at to at least 10 the number of Night Parrot sites now known from a 350km arc of arid country stretching from Boulia in the west to Stonehenge in the east.
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The exclusion of such a vast area of existing and potential Night Parrot habitat severely limits efforts by others to look for new parrot populations. Anyone entering the zones faces a potential two-year jail sentence and $353,000 fine. The measure was introduced largely because of fears that invading hordes of twitchers could jeopardise the bird's survival. The hordes never did materialise even when, after three years of suppressing them, playback calls of the Night Parrot were finally released last month. However, Miles said the remoteness of Goneaway National Park may preclude the need for a further exclusion zone.
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Will be interesting how many sites with night parrots are going to show up the coming years. With earlier sightings in Western Australia it might be actually quite a big range.
 
And as predicted, these guys found and photographed (in the day!!) Night Parrots in Western Australia.

Ok, I can't post a screenshot from my phone (extension unacceptable), but here is the text from the Australian Twitchers Facebook Group this morning, posted by Nigel Hackett:

"NIGHT PARROTS in WA! Bruce Greatwich, George Swann, Adrian Boyle and I have returned to Broome following one of our most ambitious twitches, and in doing so confirmed that Night Parrots persist in WA (at least 2000km from the nearest known Qld populations). The parrots were heard at night while listening for their calls, some of which we’ve found to be distinct from the calls released from Qld (i.e. a drawn-out hollow whistle, often followed in response by a rapid ‘didit’ was frequently heard). This stunning individual was later photographed while birding the area one morning, with Bruce taking honours for the best flight shots. The parrots were located near a salt lake in the interior of WA, but at this stage cannot be revealed any further."
 
I was just coming on to post that exact story. It is funny it came out literally the day after DDCorvus made his comment above about Western Australia! And the photo is great. There's a short video in the news article in nanoboy's post above mine (for the Queensland birds, not the WA birds, but it includes a bit of the video footage if anyone hasn't seen that or wants to see it again).
 
with the recordings released it was something we were waiting for to happen and the more we will learn about the ecology of the night parrot the easier it will be to spot. I suspect it might not be so rare in the end at all. When reading the books of Stan Sindel he not only covers his avicultural experience but as well some of his birding adventures. In his book on Neophema he indicated that it took him 25 years to see a Bourke's Parrot in the wild and that is a quite common bird, whose ecology is well known.
 
DDcorvus said:
the more we will learn about the ecology of the night parrot the easier it will be to spot. I suspect it might not be so rare in the end at all. .
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I am not really surprised by this (good) news. I could never figure out why a species like this was believed extinct,or bordering on extinction, and given the vastness of suitable habitat for it in a country like Australia, why it should become extinct. Predation by introduced Foxes and/or Feral cats- were those the reasons thought responsible? - and even then I would have found it hard to believe they had decimated them so completely that none remained.
 
Given the behaviour of many other desert birds it would not surprise me if they were highly nomadic in search of suitable breeding territory. I suspect a major threat would be changes in fire management policy and grazing pressure - that is what has had a disastrous impact on Gouldian Finch which has a somewhat similar range.
 
I assume we will see more reports and a much wider distribution and dispersal pattern for night parrots in Australia's interior outback.
 
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