Notes on the outlook for Coxen’s Fig-Parrot, Night Parrot & Buff-breasted Buttonquail: links between their fate and the “Blue-browed Fig-Parrot” fiasco

 

The following is the transcript of my news feature in The Weekend Australian of 10-11 February, 2024.

Coxen's Fig-Parrot

A 17-year-old mystery surrounding the identity of a tiny parrot is having unforeseen consequences for the welfare of endangered Australian wildlife. Self-promotion by high profile individuals and poor decision-making by Queensland Government authorities have combined to threaten rare and mysterious species, and deep divisions within the natural history community are laid bare.

Just one variety of bird, the paradise parrot, is confirmed as having become extinct on the Australian mainland since European settlement; it was last seen in the 1930s in south-east Queensland. Now, the fate of three more birds – the Coxen’s fig-parrot, night parrot and buff-breasted buttonquail - hangs in the balance. Two of the three are possibly extinct, contrary to confused government advice, with the third teetering precariously on the brink.

Buff-breasted Buttonquail

The celebrated naturalist Steve Irwin died in September 2006 when he was struck in the heart by a stingray barb on the Great Barrier Reef. Soon after, as a journalist working for The Australian, I was phoned by Tom Biggs, a Brisbane medical specialist who was providing commercial advice to controversial north Queensland naturalist John Young and his company, John Young Enterprises. Biggs asked if I was interested in breaking a “really big” story for this masthead concerning Young and a parrot; no further details were offered.

Biggs and Young were aware I had publicly suggested the Coxen’s fig-parrot might be extinct. The brightly coloured parrot once frequented the rainforests of south-east Queensland and north-east New South Wales but there had been no confirmed records of the bird for three decades at the time. Young claimed in the 1990s to have photographed the fig-parrot in NSW but did not produce convincing images. Young also asserted in the 1970s that he found a population of paradise parrots in north Queensland, but no evidence was forthcoming. Assuming Young was again claiming to have rediscovered the Coxen’s fig-parrot or paradise parrot, I politely declined Biggs’s offer.

Night Parrot

A few days later, in November 2006, Brisbane’s The Courier Mail newspaper splashed the story across its front and inside pages. It was not about those two birds but something more eye-catching: Young had supposedly discovered a species of parrot unknown to science - the blue-browed fig-parrot. The “discovery” was announced amid much fanfare at a function at O’Reillys Guesthouse in the Gold Coast hinterland by Queensland Environment Minister Lindy Nelson-Carr. Scientists from the state government’s threatened species unit hailed the discovery as ground-breaking and pledged to work with Young on publishing scientific papers.

But it wasn’t true. Investigations by The Australian, aided by Melbourne ornithologists Jeff Davies and Andrew Isles, indicated that Young’s image was an altered photograph of a much more common species – the double-eyed fig-parrot from north Queensland. Gale Spring, a leading forensic photographic expert, concluded there was little doubt the image was altered. Ornithological experts from a range of disciplines were unanimous in dismissing the claim. The Queensland Government withdrew its support for Young.

John Young

Young’s large number of supporters in the wider natural history community were furious. Fellow North Queensland naturalist and author Lloyd Nielsen declared on the online platform birding-aus that articles in The Australian were “despicable”, insisting Young’s claim was genuine: “This special bird really does exist as depicted in the published photograph.”

Now it is possible to throw further light on the matter. Nielsen relates how the day after the O’Reilly’s announcement, he and others were led by Young on a long hike through Lamington National Park to be shown a “blue-browed fig-parrot nest”. Young pointed to a small hole at the top of a tall tree and said it was the nest entrance. When no birds appeared after a short time, the group headed back. Nobody saw the bird, including government scientists who had endorsed Young’s claims.

Young pledged on his website in February 2007 to produce a "body of evidence, including photographs of multiple birds, recordings and biological material together with a nest site" at some future date. The evidence has failed to materialise 17 years on, but many nature enthusiasts continue to believe Young’s new parrot is out there. The big unanswered question: “Why would a claim like this be manufactured?”

Lloyd Nielsen

Young has told me and others in recent years that the bird he photographed was in fact a Coxen’s fig-parrot. He admitted that his claims of a new species were bogus. Young showed me a photograph of a dead bird in a nest hollow that resembled a Coxen’s fig-parrot - a species that has never been photographed. Nielsen told me he was also aware the new species claim was false, even when he was publicly asserting the opposite. Nielsen remains unsure if Young photographed a Coxen’s fig-parrot or if he “coloured in” a double-eyed fig-parrot image. Colours aside, parrot experts point to descriptive features, such as the bill shape in the pictured bird, indicating a double-eyed fig-parrot.

Young and Nielsen say Young succumbed to pressure to make his false claim. There were discussions about him emerging as the “new Steve Irwin” after the naturalist’s death and that a natural history discovery of epic proportions was needed to boost his profile. Something sexier than a Coxen’s fig-parrot. Young told me his “commercial backers” hatched the idea that he discovered a new species. Nielsen agrees, insisting he and Young did not want to go along with the ruse.

Coxedn's Fig-Parrot specimens (Neil Hart)

Tom Biggs rejects the suggestion that he urged Young to manufacture the parrot claim. Biggs tells Inquirer: “I am far from an expert. I don’t have 100th the experience that John has, and I am disinclined to think it was my suggestion. I have no recollection of suggesting it was a new species. I doubt that I would have suggested that on the basis of John’s claim, based on a photograph, that it was a different species from Coxen’s.” Biggs adds: “To the extent that he photo-shopped or deliberately manipulated colours, I wouldn’t know. It’s easily done these days.”

Young and Nielsen are among many naturalists who insist the Coxen’s fig-parrot is doing well in the wild. That view resounds with officialdom: Queensland Government threatened species experts – the same ones who believed in Young’s blue-browed fig-parrot - insist there are scores of reliable records of the species in recent decades. In 2018, the state took the extraordinary step of downgrading the status of the fig-parrot from Critically Endangered on the basis that its estimated population of between 50 and 250 had not changed for many years. The estimate was and remains misguided; not one of the reports has been confirmed by a photograph, sound recording or other evidence. The downgrading was executed at a time when many experts believe Coxen’s fig-parrot was likely to be extinct.

Young’s focus of attention shifted soon after the blue-browed fig-parrot debacle when The Australian revealed in February 2007 that a dead night parrot was found in Diamantina National Park in north-west Queensland by Robert “Shorty” Cupitt, a bulldozer operator. The bird was decapitated by flying into a barbed wire fence. Other than another dead bird found in 1990, also in north-west Queensland, the night parrot had not been reliably recorded for a century. At the time, it was considered more rare and mysterious that the Coxen’s fig-parrot.

John Young at the site where he photographed the Night Parrot in 2013

The Queensland Government had suppressed news of this remarkable discovery for several months, and would have continued to do so indefinitely, while failing to make meaningful efforts to find and protect populations of birds in the wake of Cupitt’s find.

The discovery was potentially a golden opportunity for Young to restore his bruised reputation by tracking down this enigmatic species - one of just two nocturnal parrots in the world and apart from Coxen’s fig-parrot, the only parrot never to be photographed. Young located parrots by call in the Diamantina area and eventually photographed a night parrot in 2013 - a remarkable feat that attracted international recognition. The site where the parrots live was acquired by Bush Heritage Australia and called the Pullen Pullen Reserve. BHA and the Australian Wildlife Conservancy are Australia’s two big organisations devoted to acquiring properties for wildlife conservation.

Young’s initial close working relationship with BHA was short-lived and he was hired by AWC to search for night parrots. Young quit the AWC in 2018 when an inquiry commissioned by the organisation expressed doubts about photographs he claimed to be of night parrot nests and eggs. The inquiry doubted Young’s claims to have discovered the parrot in South Australia. The AWC ditched two years’ worth of material that Young had gathered. Nielsen again came to his defence, saying at the time: “It's shameful that all that work was discarded.” Young continues to claim new night parrot records: in a blog post last April, he said he had discovered birds at 11 additional sites in outback Queensland since his 2013 photographs.

Fence at Pullen Pullen where a Night Parrot was killed

Parrot experts believe Young and his backers have set back the cause of night parrot conservation with unsubstantiated claims of finding them at multiple sites. “Young’s data was being used to inform decisions about funding and planning for night parrot conservation,” Australian National University researcher Penny Olsen told the ANU Reporter last March. “The bird might feel mythical but it lives in the real world, and the consequences of misrepresenting its population size and distribution are serious.” Young and Nielsen declined to respond to requests to comment.

At Pullen Pullen, the outlook is bleak: the total parrot population was estimated in 2022 to be between 10 and 20. Numbers have not increased since the 2013 photographs, and surveys have failed to locate additional populations in Queensland. BHA refuses to say what the population is now, or to comment on whether a recent explosion of feral cat numbers on and around Pullen Pullen has had adverse consequences for the tiny population.

In 2019, another night parrot was killed after flying into a barbed wire fence on Pullen Pullen; the fatality may have constituted between 10 and 20 percent of the population. Barbed wire fences on the property separate night parrot roosts from each other and from surrounding feeding grounds. Fences are located within a few hundred metres of parrot roosts. BHA built a new barbed wire fence along Pullen Pullen’s western boundary in 2017.

Entrance to Pullen Pullen

Useful data was provided when researches in the reserve put transmitters on two night parrots which were tracked, one in 2015 and one in 2016. That work revealed parrots fly long distances at night from day roosts to feeding grounds. Pullen Pullen researchers travelled to Western Australia to do the same with a third bird at a newly discovered site in 2018. As lead researcher Nick Leseberg told podcast host Thomas Doerig in 2022: “We went over there, put the tag on it and never saw it again. It flew away and disappeared.” Extensive searches failed to find the bird and it was not heard calling again at its roost.

BHA has now thrown a veil of secrecy over its Pullen Pullen operations. The organisation will not say if other parrots have died on barbed wire fences or been lost after being fitted with transmitters. “Unfortunately none of our staff are available to help with this story,” said BHA spokeswoman Coco McGrath. BHA has in the past declared that its operations are “utterly transparent”, but the secrecy surrounding the night parrot that kicked off with Cupitt’s find continues. BHA has the back of the Queensland Government, which introduced a $353,400 fine or two-year jail sentence for entering the 56,000ha Pullen Pullen Reserve without permission.

Double-eyed Fig-Parrot

John Young had been through the windmill with the Coxen’s fig-parrot and night parrot controversies. Next he set his sights on the third critically endangered species in this saga – the buff-breasted buttonquail. Young and Nielsen claimed to have had multiple encounters with the small ground bird since the early-1990s in a large area of woodland north of the Atherton Tableland in north Queensland. Those reports set the birding world on fire. Hundreds of bird enthusiasts from around the world claimed to have spotted the buttonquail after travelling to the area.

It was seemingly a mirage. Again, not a single record was supported by a photograph or other evidence. University of Queensland researcher Patrick Webster undertook extensive surveys of the area and found no evidence of the bird’s presence, instead repeatedly seeing a closely related and much more common species - the painted buttonquail. Webster and his colleagues conclude that none of the reports are likely to be genuine.

Painted Buttonquail

This made no difference to Queensland Government authorities which, largely on the basis of records from Young and Nielsen, refused over many years to upgrade the status of the species to Critically Endangered. The last confirmed record of the bird was in 1922, when specimens were collected near Coen on Cape York. The government’s faith in the integrity of claims by the two naturalists was unaffected by the fig-parrot and night parrot rows.

In the face of Webster’s research, Young and Nielsen doubled down on their buttonquail records. Like the night parrot until 2013 and the Coxen’s fig-parrot, the buttonquail had never been photographed. But Young said he had photographs of the nest and eggs of a buff-breasted buttonquail as well as multiple images of the bird itself, which he shared with Nielsen. In July 2022 Inquirer called into question a published image of what Young described as a buff-breasted buttonquail nest that proved to be the nest of a painted buttonquail.

The nest that John Young claims to be that of a Buff-breasted Buttonquail

I later published one of his images of the bird on my blog, sunshinecoastbirds. Experts agreed it was likely a painted buttonquail. Nielsen again responding angrily, saying on Facebook he was “thoroughly disgusted” at what he described as “gutter journalism”. However, following these revelations, the Queensland Government was finally motivated to intervene and upgrade the status of the buff-breasted buttonquail to Critically Endangered, in November 2022. At the same time, it reversed its 2018 decision to downgrade the status of Coxen’s fig-parrot, restoring it to Critically Endangered. It may be too late, however, for all three special birds.

The debacle that is the conservation status of Coxen's Fig-Parrot

While debate continues over the roll of recovery teams in managing the night parrot, the status of another imperilled parrot, Coxen's Fig-Parrot, has bizarrely been downgraded from critically endangered to endangered. This is another example of an endangered species recovery team going off the rails.

The Queensland Government's threatened species unit, which effectively doubles as the fig-parrot's recovery team, has long claimed the Coxen's Fig-Parrot occurs in four disjunct areas in south-east Queensland and north-east New South Wales, with a total population of between 50 and 250. No evidence has been offered to support these numbers; they amount to a wild guess.

The threatened species unit and the recovery team have long insisted the fig-parrot is regularly reported, but no record has been corroborated for a very long time by follow-up observations, a photograph, specimen, or sound-recording. The last corroborated sightings of the bird may have been as long ago as the late-1970s although a handful of these reports, while not confirmed by evidence or follow-up sightings, may be authentic. It's often said fig-parrots are so tiny and obscure they are easily overlooked, but they are not that difficult to locate when they are about. Plenty of good observers in this bird's range have looked long and hard without success for firm evidence of Coxen's Fig-Parrot.

The threatened species unit says now that because its estimate of the population is unchanged in recent years, the bird can no longer be regarded as critically endangered. So the parrot's status was downgraded to endangered by BirdLife International, the reason being that the bird's population "should not be considered as declining and instead could be considered stable". In the absence of evidence of a population decline, the bird does not qualify for listing under the International Union for the Conservation of Nature's Red List criteria.

Here is a comment from the threatened species unit head, Ian Gynther, to Rob Morris on Facebook: "The fact that this results in a down-listing to Endangered for a bird so seldom encountered and about which we lack so much basic knowledge is regrettable but it is, nevertheless, unavoidable based on the existing population thresholds."

In other words, unsubstantiated reports keep flowing to Gynther's team at such a rate that they have decided their estimated population of 50-250 is not declining and remains stable. Some observers are unkind enough to think this is scientific silliness writ large. This bird may in fact be extinct in the absence of any evidence to the contrary, but its conservation status is downgraded. Go figure.

In May last year I attended a talk given by two women closely associated with the threatened species unit – Rachael O'Flynn and Llana Kelly from Noosa and District Landcare – to the Noosa Parks Association on the Sunshine Coast. I listened as the pair talked about how the fig-parrots were out and about, how lucky we were to have them in our area, and how we need to plant lots of fig trees to boost their numbers. The audience was given the clear impression that Coxen's Fig-Parrot was doing quite well and had a bright future.

During question time, when I suggested to Ms O'Flynn and Ms Kelly that in fact there had been no corroborated records of the bird anywhere for decades, I was told essentially that I didn't know what I was talking about. Ms Kelly added that anyway, other wildlife will benefit from the good work being done for the fig-parrot; this may be true but is hardly relevant to the issue at hand.

Meanwhile, just like the night parrot recovery team, the threatened species unit is big on secrecy. When somebody reports a sighting of Coxen's Fig-Parrot, they are told by the threatened species unit not to share information with the birding community. No alerts are dispatched; the only people sent to check are Queensland Environment Department personnel. So the chances of corroborating the record with further sightings are seriously limited. Again, go figure.

Coxen's Fig-Parrot: Does It Live?

Coxen's Fig-Parrot

Does the coxeni race of the Double-eyed Fig-Parrot - quite possibly a distinct species - still exist, or is it extinct? An intriguing sighting of a group of small, green parrots in the Sunshine Coast hinterland recently has again sparked hopes that the parrot may indeed survive. A local observer watched the birds for several minutes high in a Ficus tree in the Tuchekoi area of the Mary River Valley in early-December.

The observer, who does not want to be identified, watched the parrots feeding on figs through 10x binoculars and a 16x rifle scope (used for feral animal control) on a privately owned farm. He believed 3 or 4 birds were in the tree. The birds were described as tiny, green parrots with no visible head colouration, but bright blue wing flashes were noted on several occasions although the birds were quite distant. It is this feature which makes the observation particularly interesting. The patches of red and blue on the face of Coxen's Fig-Parrot are not nearly as obvious as they are in the northern races of Double-eyed Fig-Parrot (and are much duller than in the painting above); they could have been overlooked easily at some distance. However, the blue wing flashes - and the observer is adamant they were seen - are hard to ascribe to anything else. The sighting of the birds feeding on figs is also significant; this has been rarely reported in claimed records of Coxen's Fig-Parrot in recent times.

Fruit and leaves from parrot feeding tree

The observer says Rose-crowned Fruit-Doves were also feeding on figs in the tree. He collected and photographed the remains of small figs from the ground below where the birds were feeding. The identity of the farm property is not being revealed by the observer as it is presently subject to an intensive feral animal control program. The tree was in a patch of vine scrub in farm pasture in a stretch of the Mary River Valley where good numbers of Ficus trees remain. When I visited the general area (not the property) this morning, I saw plenty of Australasian Figbirds and a good sprinkling of other birds feeding on figs including Barred Cuckoo-shrike, Channel-billed Cuckoo and Eastern Koel.

Tree where Fig-Parrots were possibly seen

There have been no authenticated records of Coxen's Fig-Parrot for about 25 years or so. None of numerous claimed sightings over that time have been able to be confirmed by photographs or follow-up observations, leading to speculation that the bird may be extinct in its habitat of lowland rainforest in south-east Queensland and north-east NSW. This latest may well well prove to be yet another unconfirmed sighting, but Sunshine Coast birders and people visiting the region might want to keep an eye out. There are a number of unconfirmed sightings of Coxen's Fig-Parrot from the Mary River Valley region since the 1980s as well as historic records.

Paradise Riflebird

From Tuchekoi I moved on to an excellent area of lowland rainforest along Cedar Creek Road in the western foothills of the Blackall Range. Of interest here was a nicely performing Paradise Riflebird and a pair of Lewin's Rail in creekside vegetation. Plenty of Wompoo and Rose-crowned Fruit-Doves were about.

Paradise Riflebird

More common fare in open areas nearby around Belli Park included Red-browed Finch and Red-backed Fairy-wren.

Red-backed Fairy-wren

Red-browed Finch

Buff-breasted Buttonquail & Coxen’s Fig-Parrot declared Critically Endangered but is it too late?

The Queensland Government has pledged to work to save the Buff-breasted Buttonquail from extinction after upgrading its status to Critically Endangered, although the delay in doing so may mean the species misses out on crucial conservation funding. State authorities also upgraded the Coxen’s Fig-Parrot to Critically Endangered in government declarations published late last week. The upgrading of the buttonquail’s status is recognition of the view that the species is far more rare than is generally appreciated and indeed may be extinct. It is endemic to the savannah woodlands of Queensland’s Cape York Peninsula. North Queensland naturalists John Young (below) and Lloyd Nielsen in the late-1980s began reporting Buff-breasted Buttonquail from woodlands between the Atherton Tableland and Lakeland Downs at the southern end of Cape York. Since then, numerous records of the species from that region have been claimed, but no supporting evidence such as a photograph has emerged to support any report.

The University of Queensland’s Research and Recovery of Threatened Species group has been undergoing intensive surveys of this and other areas of Cape York in recent years to locate the species in a program headed by PhD student Patrick Webster. Webster and his colleagues have failed to find evidence of the presence of the species anywhere, but they logged numerous records of the closely related Painted Buttonquail (below). In March 2021, the group lodged a submission with the state’s Special Technical Committee detailing results from these surveys and urging the upgrading of the bird’s status to Critically Endangered. The submission was rejected, with state authorities arguing that more evidence was needed before taking that step. Last July, the group submitted a fresh submission.

At the same time, I reported in the pages of The Weekend Australian that a photograph of a nest (below) claimed by John Young to belong to belong to a Buff-breasted Buttonquail in fact was occupied by a Painted Buttonquail; the image had been manipulated to mask details of the nest. Soon after, I published an image which Young and Nielsen claimed to be of a Buff-breasted buttonquail which had not previously been released publicly . Most people who have seen the image say it is in fact a Painted Buttonquail. Although Young and Nielsen claim to have found numerous nests belonging to Buff-breasted Buttonquail and to have seen birds on many occasions, no images have been produced to support the claims.

The 20-month delay by Queensland authorities in upgrading the status to Critically Endangered meant the species was not included in the federal Government’s list of the 20 most endangered birds under its Threatened Species Strategy, so the buttonquail may miss out on funding for crucial conservation programs and research. The Queensland Department of Environment and Science said in a statement that it will continue to protect habitat known to be important for the species; work with partners to improve knowledge and understanding of the buttonquail; and implement management actions where possible to support the recovery of the species. As well, the department will continue efforts to control cattle, manage fire (including appropriate planned burn prescriptions) and manage habitat.

The department said it has determined that populations of both the Buff-breasted Buttonquail and Coxen’s Fig-Parrot were “extremely low”. This admission constitutes a major change of view on the part of state authorities that is welcome if overdue. In 2018, the state took the extraordinary step of downgrading the status of the fig-parrot from Critically Endangered on the basis that its estimated population of between 50 and 250 had not changed for many years. No evidence has surfaced to support this population estimate. Like the Buff-breasted Buttonquail, no evidence in the form of photographs, dead birds or solid follow-up observations has emerged to corroborate a single one of the many records of Coxen’s Fig-Parrot that have been accepted as genuine by state authorities. Again like the buttonquail, the fig-parrot (below) sadly may be extinct.

The bird has disappeared in the wake of the widespread destruction of subtropical lowland rainforest in south-east Queensland and north-east NSW. I have argued that an attempt be made to restore a substantial area of this endangered habitat by allowing hoop pine plantations in Imbil State Forest in the Sunshine Coast hinterland (below) – an area once frequented by the fig-parrot - to regenerate as rainforest, beginning with a small 200ha trial program. The Queensland Government and the timber industry rejected the proposal.

John Young and the Night Parrot

Night Parrot

It bounces among spinifex clumps in the desert like a wound-up toy, puffs itself up to look like a green-and-gold echidna, and bangs its head on the ground when excited. The night parrot, one of the world’s rarest and most enigmatic animals, has not disappointed.

Bushman and naturalist John Young has generated enormous interest with his discovery of the night parrot at an undisclosed location in south-west Queensland. A conference hall at the Queensland Museum in Brisbane this week was packed as Young revealed to the public the first photographs and video footage ever taken of a bird that has confounded experts for more than a century.

Where to now for this remarkable creature? Amid the excitement surrounding Young’s extraordinary find - which involved him driving 325,000 km and spending 17,000 hours in the desert over several years – debate is emerging about what should be done to seize an opportunity to protect a critically endangered species.

Young is not notifying state or federal authorities of the identity of the private grazing property where he found the birds. He insists that the conservation of the night parrot is his primary concern and he intends to raise at least $2 million so the property can be managed privately. Rights to his photographs and video footage are up for sale. However, bird experts are urging Young to back down and co-operate with government agencies.

Road-killed night parrot found near Boulia

Young photographed the bird in the general region where two dead night parrots were found 16 years apart – one near Boulia in 1990, the other in the Diamantina National Park, 200 km away, in 2006.  Other than those birds, the last confirmed report was a century ago when a night parrot was collected at Nichol Spring, Western Australia, in 1912.

A handful of sightings are the only other reports. Brisbane naturalist David Stewart saw a night parrot along the Canning Stock Route, Western Australia, in 1967. Scientist Shane Parker and tour operator Rex Ellis flushed four birds from camels in 1979 at Lake Perigundi, South Australia. Environmental consultants Rob Davies and Brenden Metcalf saw three birds at Minga Well, Western Australia, in 2005. Some authorities question one or more of these reports.

John Young - Picture ABC News

The spread of feral cats is a major factor in the demise of the species. It was once common around Alice Springs, for instance; in 1892, it was reported that “numerous” night parrots were killed by cats at the town’s Old Telegraph Station.

Young was able to throw some light this week on how the bird has evaded attention for so long. It calls sporadically and softly. The parrots do not emerge from spinifex clumps in which they hide during the day to forage until well after sunset. They appear to have no need of water, defying expectations that they fly to watering holes at dusk. They do not flush from daytime roosts if disturbed and generally are as cryptic as it is possible to imagine.

Six weeks ago, Young lured a male night parrot into view with a tape recording of its distinctive whistle and captured his magical images. In 2008, he first heard the bird calling on the property near the Queensland-Northern Territory border where he was to later photograph it. Although he knew then that he had cornered the Holy Grail of the birding world, it was five long years before the proof was in the bag. Said Young this week:  “I understand why nobody ever found one because it is so secretive. We were over the top of it most nights and it would not call.” His recording of the call is the only one in existence. He does not intend to release the recording, although some in the birding community argue that its use across the parrot’s once vast inland Australian distribution would help locate more parrots.

Young located a parrot’s roosting site as well as a nest; he said he could hear the nestlings calling – proof of successful breeding. He sent parrot feathers he collected for DNA analysis to the Western Australian Museum. Nests are generally full of feathers but Young insists he did not disturb the nest. Young said in one interview this week that the feathers were collected from the roosting site, but in another interview he said they were “at the road side”.  Young says on his Facebook page that a female bird was sitting on the nest but he does not explain how he became aware of her presence; historical records show that night parrots build nests deep within large spinifex clumps that are not easily visible or accessible.

Spinifex of inland Australia - Night Parrot habitat

WA Museum senior vertebrates curator Ron Johnstone tells Inquirer: “John indicated there were feathers everywhere at the site. He says he’s got a heap of feathers.” Australia’s leading authority on parrots, Joseph Forshaw, says he is puzzled at how Young was able to collect a substantial quantity of feathers from either a road verge or a roosting site.

Young is a controversial figure. He has admitted to colleagues that he collected clutches of eggs from the nests of rare birds over many years but insists that he stopped doing so long ago. In 1980, Young reported a discovery even more exciting than a night parrot. He claimed to have rediscovered the paradise parrot, the only bird believed to have become extinct on the Australian mainland, but visits by ornithologists failed to find any birds.

In the mid-1990s, Young claimed to have photographed a Coxen’s fig-parrot, a tiny parrot on the verge of extinction, but no conclusive evidence emerged. In 2007, Young claimed another spectacular discovery when he said he had photographed a previously unknown species, the blue-browed fig-parrot. The claim was challenged by revelations in The Australian about doubts by experts concerning a photograph of Young’s parrot published in The Courier Mail.

Paradise Parrot

In her acclaimed book, Glimpses of Paradise- The Quest for the Beautiful Parakeet, zoologist and parrot expert Penny Olsen said Young had on several occasions “claimed a sensational find, shrouded in secrecy, which divided the birding community and ultimately came to nothing”.

This time the evidence is incontestable, but divisions in the birding community have resurfaced. Melbourne photographer Geoff Jones suggested on wildlife online forum birding-aus that Young’s critics would “grovel and eat humble pie”; Tasmanian birder Ian May said doubts about Young had been generated by “slurs” published by The Australian.  Others countered that the night parrot find and Young’s previous claimed discoveries should be regarded as unrelated.

When revealing his find exclusively to The Weekend Australian last week, Young addressed his critics publicly for the first time. He said he had lost the negative of the blue-browed fig-parrot photograph. However, the image was digital and one of a series. Young offered a different explanation about the photographs in a later interview: “I lightened them, darkened them, did my own sort of stuff and I was criticised and probably rightly so.” 

Young has locked government authorities out of his night parrot discovery, declaring this week:  “I’d rather go to jail than tell anyone where I found it... The site is going to stay protected. I want to look after this thing at all cost.”  Young believes government agencies would mismanage the property and that its whereabouts cannot be disclosed because it would be invaded by intrusive bird-watchers, threatening the survival of what is probably a tiny remnant population. Another concern may be egg-collectors; avicultural industry sources say a clutch of wild night parrot eggs could fetch as much as $1 million on overseas black markets.

Joe Forshaw says it is essential that Young co-operate with government authorities:  “You need a cat reduction program, you’ve maybe got land acquisition, all manner of management issues. John won’t have the resources. What happens if he gets run over by a bus? It all goes down the gurgler.”

This article was published in The Weekend Australian of 6-7 July, 2013

Night Parrot: Longer Between Drinks Than We Thought

With recordings of calls of the Night Parrot finally if belatedly being released to facilitate wider searches for the species (more on that later) attention has turned to fresh analysis of historical records. Before a road-killed Night Parrot was found in 1990 near Boulia in western Queensland, the evidence now indicates that the last confirmed record of the species is much older than was previously thought.

The word “confirmed” is a little subjective. There have been several definitive sight records of Night Parrots from various sites over the decades, but with a near-mythical species – as would be the case with, say, Coxen's Fig-Parrot or Paradise Parrot as well – it is reasonable to expect photographs or specimens to confirm a record in the absence of solid evidence over a prolonged period.

In the case of the Night Parrot, the last confirmed record prior to 1990 was supposedly a specimen taken in 1912 by amateur ornithologist Martin Bourgoin at Nichol Spring near the Ashburton River; the site is east of Newman in the Pilbara of Western Australia. The next confirmed record post-1990 was a dead bird found in Diamantina National Park, also in western Queensland, in 2006. John Young subsequently photographed and filmed a Night Parrot for the first time in 2013 not far from the national park site in what is now known as the Pullen Pullen Reserve. Since then, Night Parrots have been found in several places across this region.

John Young has questioned the validity of the 1912 specimen, and it seems he has a point. Martin Bourgoin was not on a collecting expedition at the time but was shooting "bronzewings" (most likely Crested Pigeons or Spinifex Pigeons) for the pot. The parrot was one of four flushed from what he described as thick spinifex on limestone hills. Here is the first problem with this "specimen". All the evidence gathered in recent years at the western Queensland sites by John Young, Steve Murphy and most recently by James Watson and Nick Leseberg, suggests it is highly unlikely that four Night Parrots could be flushed simultaneously. With intensive field work in areas where Night Parrots are known to be resident underway over several years now, flushing even a single bird is a very rare occurrence.

Night Parrot: Pic by Rachel Barr

On the face of it, Bourgoin's record looks impressive. His notes describe the plumage as “dark green barred with a light yellow edge on each feather of the back and breast”. The abdominal surface and underwings were yellow. The crop contents were spinifex and herbage seeds. However, the specimen was poorly prepared in Bourgoin's camp and most of its feathers soon fell out. By the time the specimen was shown a year later to Colonel E.A. Le Souef, the only bits remaining were the head, wings, tail and legs; these were evidently disposed of in the belief they were insignificant.

South Australian Museum collections manager Philippa Horton tells me the existence of the specimen can not be traced, adding: “Most likely it was thrown out.”

This means that the 1912 “specimen” can not be regarded as anything more substantive than an unconfirmed sighting. The record has no more or less weight than many subsequent sightings. Anybody can write up a suitably impressive description of a bird. The published records do not contain collaborative material to confirm the record. Western Australian Museum birds curator Ron Johnstone agrees; Ron tells me the most that can be said is that this was "probably" a Night Parrot. 

So we need to go further back to determine the timing of the last confirmed record prior to 1990. The bulk of the 25 known specimens of Night Parrot in existence - 19 in total – were collected by self-employed taxidermist Frederick Andrews in the 1870s and 1880s in South Australia, most from the Gawler Ranges north of Eyre Peninsula. The most recent of these appears to be one in the American Museum of Natural History, New York, with a label noting it was collected “About 1890?” between Lake Acraman and Lake Gairdner.

However, the last of the Andrews specimens appears to have been collected in 1884, which is the closest of the 25 specimen dates to the 1912 record. In that case, the time span between the finding of the Boulia bird and the last confirmed record before that was at least 106 years and not 78 years, as is generally - and, as we can see, mistakenly - assumed.

Meanwhile, the release of Night Parrot call recordings is a welcome development, although it should have been done much earlier. Some of us have argued long and hard that the conservation interests of the species were not advanced by a cloak of secrecy that surrounded its study. A self-appointed elite had refused to release call recordings in the fanciful belief that to do so would unleash an invasion of illegal egg-collectors and over-eager twitchers with no regard for the welfare of the bird. Australia's generally responsible and environmentally aware birding community was unimpressed with being treated with such disdain.

Night Parrot - Pic by Rachel Barr

Call recordings for such a cryptic species are crucial to finding new populations of Night Parrots. What was to stop a huge new mining development going ahead in Queensland or Western Australia because consultants had no substantive means of locating this critically endangered species? A consultant in WA was reduced to cobbling together notes of the Bell Miner in a recording in a sad attempt to copy the parrot's call. 

I was criticised by some when I decided last year to reveal the name of the property where the Night Parrot was photographed by John Young, although I was careful not to identify the specific site on the sprawling cattle holding of almost 500,000ha. My objective in publishing this and a raft of other information was to point potential searchers in the right direction so that other populations could be looked for in the absence of call recordings being available. 

The Night Parrot Recovery Team claimed it was constrained from releasing the calls, variously because of copyright issues surrounding calls collected by researcher Steve Murphy (he was working at the time under a Commonwealth offsets program for Fortescue Metals) or because of opposition from the Queensland Government. 

Night Parrot habitat - western Queensland

Before the calls were released last week, I had learned that Fortescue Metals had no problem with releasing the calls. Neither did the Australian Wildlife Conservancy, for which John Young presently works studying Night Parrots in Diamantina National Park. Most importantly, I discovered that the Queensland Government was happy for calls to be released. A Queensland Department of Environment and Heritage Protection spokesman told me the government had never had the regulatory authority to prevent the release of calls, and that the recovery team had been told as much.

When I put this information to the recovery team last week through Bush Heritage Australia, which operates the Pullen Pullen Reserve, I was greeted by a wall of silence. Steve Murphy has told people that because of my sins of publishing material without permission, I have been blacklisted by the recovery team. Then, two days after approaching BHA, I saw on social media that the calls had finally been released. The timing is pure coincidence perhaps. The recovery team has also published at long last – along with the calls – an informative website with plenty of useful information.

Australia's leading expert on parrots, Joe Forshaw, tells me he is baffled why it took almost four years after John Young's photographs for the calls to be released. “I never did understand why there was an embargo on releasing calls of the Night Parrot,” Joe says. “Paranoia on the part of some persons involved…. The authorities need to be vigilant against feral cats, rats, foxes and wildfire rather than birdwatchers.”

Changes in status of South-East Queensland Birds over 40 years – Part 4, pigeons to nightjars

Marbled Frogmouth

This is the fourth post demonstrating changes in the status and distribution of birds in South-East Queensland over 40 years between 1979 - when my booklet The Birds of South-East Queensland was published – and 2019. The list covers only those species where a significant change has been noted over the intervening period. Some changes are doubtlessly influenced by an increased number of observers and technological advances (especially with playback) but many can not be explained by these factors. See here for Part 1 (emu to storm-petrels) and here for Part 2 (boobies to hawks); Part 3 (brush-turkey to terns) is here.

Superb Fruit-Dove

Superb Fruit-Dove. Thought to be “rare” in 1979 and recorded from just five sites, it continues to be considered scarce but is known now to be a summer visitor. It is recorded from several other localities, especially around the Sunshine Coast where it is a regular visitor in small numbers.

White-headed Pigeon

White-headed Pigeon. Considered “uncommon” in 1979, it could now be described as moderately common generally and common locally. It seems to have benefited from an abundance of introduced camphor laurel trees and has become a frequent visitor to bird feeders.

Brush Bronzewing

Brush Bronzewing. It is described as “rare, possibly vagrant” in 1979: known from two records in Cooloola and one on Fraser Island. It is now known to be a scarce resident but has not been recorded beyond these two sites (known collectively today as the Great Sandy World Heritage Area) despite an abundance of seemingly suitable habitat elsewhere.

Red-tailed Black Cockatoo

Red-tailed Black Cockatoo. This species was thought to be “generally rare, though uncommon and regular in northern areas” such as Gayndah and Gin Gin. It remains uncommon in the region but is now known to occur more often further south - being resident in small numbers around Gympie, for instance, and a regular visitor to the foothills of the Conondale and Jimna ranges.

Little Corella

Little Corella. Not recorded at all by 1979, it is now a common resident throughout the region. Like Galah and Crested Pigeon, it has extended its range from the inland to the coast, although for unknown reasons it took its time.

Double-eyed (Coxen's) Fig-Parrot. In 1979 it was described as “possibly extinct” with recent reports unconfirmed. That could be downgraded to “probably extinct” today with recent records still unconfirmed. Many reports of sightings are accepted as valid by Queensland Government authorities that should know better. As I have reported elsewhere, not a single one of these records has been corroborated by follow-up sightings, a photograph, specimen or sound-recording. It is remotely possible (but unlikely in my view) that it survives in very small numbers.

Eastern Ground Parrot

Eastern Ground Parrot. Its status of “rare” remains essentially unchanged from 1979 but it is now extinct in two localities – Calounda and Beerwah – where it was present but rapidly declining at that time. It is hanging on in very small numbers at a couple of other sites on the Sunshine Coast but its stronghold remains further north in the Great Sandy World Heritage Area, especially the Noosa Plain of Cooloola. In 1979, that area was threatened by the planned expansion of introduced Pinus plantations; happily that move was repelled and the Noosa Plain is protected these days as national park.

Crimson Rosella

Crimson Rosella. This was described as “common” in 1979 in rainforest and wet sclerophyll forest. It remains common today but only locally at higher altitudes. It is today much more uncommon than previously in low-lying sites such as the foothills of the Conondale and Blackall ranges. I've suggested this is one of a number of species whose status and distribution in the region may be influenced by climate change.

Paradise Parrot. Described as “possibly extinct” in 1979, it can safely and regrettably today be deemed extinct. I reported back then that the last published observation was in 1927 in the upper Burnett. I've since reported that the last authentic sighting was in fact by Eric Zillmann in 1938 in the Gin Gin area of the Burnett Valley.

Channel-billed Cuckoo

Channel-billed Cuckoo. It was considered “moderately common” as a summer visitor in 1979 but can fairly be regarded as common today; its numbers have clearly increased.

Powerful Owl

Powerful Owl. The species was thought to be “rare” in 1979, recorded from heavily forested areas and streamside thickets. It continues to be regarded as scarce but is now known to be resident in small numbers in the suburbs of Brisbane, where it had previously not been recorded.

Southern Boobook

Southern Boobook. This was “common” in 1979 and while these days it is not uncommon, there is little doubt that numbers are substantially reduced. This may be due to rodenticides, which have impacted populations elsewhere.

Masked Owl

Masked Owl. It was considered “rare” in 1979 in open forest and lightly-wooded country. While it frequents woodland in areas such as the Brisbane Valley, we now know that its favoured haunts are the wet sclerophyll and tall open forests of the region's mountain ranges, where it is uncommon.

Marbled Frogmouth. In 1979 it was thought to be “rare” in the rainforests of the Conondale Range. This was relatively not long after I rediscovered the plumiferus race of the species in the Conondale Range in 1976. It can best be described as uncommon today though moderately common in suitable habitat. It is known also from various sites extending from the McPherson Range in the south to Cooloola in the north.

Large-tailed Nightjar. It was also considered “rare” in 1979 and confined to northern areas – Gin Gin, Bundaberg and “probably” Fraser Island. It continues to be regarded as scarce but is known to occur further south to Rainbow Beach, Cooloola and more recently, the Sunshine Coast.

Large-tailed Nightjar