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.
