Night Parrot Conservation On ABC (Aussie TV)

Aussies, set your recording for ABC 12 noon today!  They are showing an excellent documentary on how normal Aussie farmers are helping the conservation of the highly endangered Night Parrot.

Non-Aussies might want to try a VPN to watch online.

The next episode of ABC-Landline will include a segment on the night parrot.  You can find some details on the Landline web page as well as a Landline article on the topic of Qld farmers working for the conservation effort.

You can view the program in several ways:

  • Sunday 9th April at midday – on ABC-2 and HD

  • Monday 10th April at 12:01 am (just after midnight Sunday)- on ABC news 24

  • Monday 10th April at 10:00 am – on ABC-2 and HD

  • on the internet using ABC iView (after the show is first broadcast)

Amazing Footage Of Extremely Endangered Night Parrot

They’ve been called the “Holy Grail” of Australian birders and I have to agree!  I am dying to see a Night Parrot in the wild but this may be a far distant dream for now.  The elusive bird has only been seen 3 times by expert researchers in the last 2 years and the exact location is top secret to protect the birds while researchers hunt for more.  From the interview aired by ABC TV:

Ecologist Dr Steve Murphy is researching the night parrot population and said if more are found, the public would then have the opportunity to visit them.

“But without finding those other populations the risks are still really too great,” he said.

The newly designated Bush Reserve is somewhere west of Longreach.  To put it into perspective, I have done a Google map showing the route from my home town of Brisbane to Longreach and circled the area which is “west of Longreach” so that’s a lot of area!

BNE-LongreachFor now, we all have to be content with this footage (click on links below) of the diminutive Night Parrot.  I can’t get over how small and fragile he looks!  I am really glad they have those baits for feral cats as they could easily wipe out what’s left of the population.  You can be sure that if birders are ever allowed to see the bird, I will be jumping in my car within minutes to take the drive out there!

ABC STORY AND VIDEO

THE AUSTRALIAN

THE GUARDIAN

The Elusive Night Parrot (Pezoporus occidentalis)

The Night Parrot (Pezoporus occidentalis) is a small parrot endemic to the continent of Australia. The species was originally placed within its own genus (Geopsittacus),but most authors now prefer to place it within the genus Pezoporus together with the two ground parrots.

Night Parrot (Pezoporus occidentalis)

It is well known as being one of the most elusive and mysterious birds in the world, with no known sightings of the bird between 1912 and 1979, leading to speculation that it was extinct. Sightings since 1979 have been extremely rare and the bird’s population size is unknown, though based on the paucity of records its thought to number 50–249 mature individuals.

This map shows historical sightings of this extremely rare parrot.

Sightings of the Night Parrot from Wikipedia

FROM:  AUSTRALIAN GEOGRAPHIC:

A LIVE NIGHT PARROT has reportedly been photographed in western Queensland for the first time since the species was discovered more than 150 years ago.

With a loosely estimated population of less than 250 individuals across central Australia, the last living night parrot specimen was collected in 1912 at Nicol Spring in Western Australia.

The species has since famously avoided detection, save a handful of sightings and two dead specimens, the most recent of which was a decapitated young female picked up by a ranger in Queensland’s Diamantina National Park in 2006.

Full story

City Parrots also has a story on this discovery.  Exact location of the sighting are secret for now because otherwise the place would be inundated with bird watchers and this is a very sensitive species.

Next week, bushman naturalist John Young will present to the world a series of photographs and a 17-second video of a bird he watched for 35 minutes in torchlight. He will say it proves beyond doubt that he has, at last, found the elusive, mysterious night parrot.