Night Parrot man in jail after bush bolthole bid

 

John Young during a visit to the Sunshine Coast

Here is the transcript of my story in today’s edition of The Australian newspaper.

One of Australia’s best-known naturalists hid in dense rainforest in North Queensland for more than a year, cutting off contact with the outside world while evading a concerted police hunt to track him down.

John Young failed to appear before the Tully Magistrates Court, near his South Mission Beach home, in August 2023 on four charges.

A spokesperson for Queensland’s Justice Department said the charges can not be revealed because to do so may potentially lead to the identification of a victim of sexual assault, a child, or any other person whose identity is subject to a publication restriction.

Young is understood to have disposed of many possessions, including his phone and computer, and closed his social media accounts.

John Young in the Mt Carbine area 

He was arrested by police from the remote Aboriginal community of Lockhart River at Iron Range near the top of Cape York Peninsula last September – 13 months after disappearing. He was charged with failure to appear in accordance with an undertaking and remanded in custody when the matter came before the Cairns Magistrates Court.

Young has been detained in the Lotus Glen Correctional Centre on the Atherton Tableland since then. He will appear before the Tully Magistrates Court next Thursday on the failure to appear charge. There are no suppression or non-publication orders relating to the charge.

The four other charges were referred to the Cairns District Court. The Queensland Department of Public Prosecution lodged an indictment listing the charges last Friday and the matter has been listed for a hearing before the court on May 14.

Rainforest around the Claudie River, Iron Range

In February 2024, five months after Young disappeared, a close associate and fellow North Queensland naturalist, Lloyd Nielsen, emailed mutual friends.

“I have not spoken to him since about May (2023) and have heard nothing from him since last August,” Nielsen said.

“However he did make contact with someone two weeks ago and he told them he was okay, that he was living in the bush, and would be there indefinitely. Where, nobody knows.”

Nielsen said Young had ditched his computer and other equipment. “The rumour up here is that there is a massive family feud taking place and (family members) have been trying to get him into court since mid-2023. So in typical fashion, John disappeared!”

Lloyd Nielsen

The Weekend Australian confirmed that Young had fallen out of favour with close family members before his disappearance.

Young attracted attention internationally in 2013 when he became the first person to photograph the critically endangered night parrot, described then as the world’s most mysterious bird.

However, his career in natural history took a battering when the Australian Wildlife Conservancy, which employed him as an ecologist, published a report in 2019 that concluded his claims to have discovered night parrots at other sites, and to have photographed the bird’s nest for the first time, were false.

Night Parrot

The Weekend Australian revealed in 2006 that Young manipulated a photograph of a common parrot to claim it was a species previously unknown to science, which he dubbed the blue-browed fig-parrot.

The newspaper revealed in 2022 that a photograph Young claimed to be the first of the nest of another critically endangered bird, the buff-breasted buttonquail, was a manipulated image of the common painted buttonquail. Young has also falsely claimed to have rediscovered the paradise parrot, the only bird species on mainland Australia that has become extinct.

However, the 71-year-old retains a large and loyal following among wildlife enthusiasts. His supporters claim he is the victim of attacks by the media seeking to undermine his reputation.

Wayne Butcher, the mayor of the Lockhart River community council, is a friend of Young who has worked with him on wildlife documentary filming and other projects in the Iron Range forests.

Buff-breasted Buttonquail

Butcher said Young avoided contact with local indigenous people, many of whom knew him well, during his absence. Locals were astonished to learn he had been hiding for so long in the area.

According to Butcher, other than whatever food supplies Young had at the start, he would have had no difficulty surviving in the forest. “There is plenty of fruit and other bush tucker and John knew all about bush tucker,” he said.

“He could fish and trap and gather plants. Plenty of water. He could climb up a 50-metre tree like a monkey. John is a real gun of a bushman. He knew that country really well and it’s huge area to hide it.”

Police are convinced Young was not assisted by anyone while in hiding. “There are no investigations relating to other persons involved,” a police spokesperson said.

Young often told friends that the rainforests of Iron Range, now largely protected in the Kutini-Payamu National Park, were his favourite retreat.

He has told naturalists that prior to the 1980s, when he was a keen collector of bird eggs, he illegally plundered many nests of the Palm Cockatoo and other rare birds that in Australia are largely or entirely restricted to the Iron Range rainforests.

John Young in Night Parrot country

Plumed Frogmouth – Lost and found

Marbled Frogmouth male, Booloumba Creek

This is the transcript of my article published in current (Autumn 2025) edition of the Australian BirdLife magazine.

The evening of October 28, 1976 was pleasantly balmy. I was camped by a bubbling stream at what was then known quaintly as Beauty Spot 100 in the Conondale Range, in the Sunshine Coast hinterland of south-east Queensland. With me was Glen Ingram, who was conducting an ecological study of the Gastric-brooding Frog, the only vertebrate animal in the world - other than some fish - that raised its young inside its stomach. This unique frog was found only in the Conondale Range and neighbouring Blackall Range. We were not to know that within three years, it would be extinct.

Nor did we know as we set up camp that Beauty Spot 100 - a key site for the frog and indeed a place of great beauty – held other secrets. At 9.50pm that October night, Glen was downstream from camp looking for frogs when I heard a peculiar call from inside rainforest across the creek. I describe it in my notes as a series of gobbling “caw” notes uttered quickly in succession, of moderately deep tone and descending in volume. I had heard nothing like it previously.

Beauty Spot 100

I thought this might be the scarcely known Plumed Frogmouth - the southern subspecies of the Marbled Frogmouth - although nobody knew what it sounded like then, and there were very few records, historically or in recent times. A month earlier, in the Nightcap Range in north-east NSW, I flushed a bird from a piccabeen palm which was possibly a Plumed Frogmouth.

My notes record that I crossed the creek and quickly located the Beauty Spot 100 bird. It was perched three metres from the ground on a vine hanging from a strangler fig. I watched it call; this was without doubt a Plumed Frogmouth. I noted rows of white spotting on the wings, the rufous-grey colouration, long bristle plumes on the forehead, and orange eyes.

Marbled Frogmouth pair at day roost, Blackall Range

I summonsed Glen with a loud “cooee” but we could not immediately relocate the bird, although it called frequently over the next two nights. Then, at 12.45am on October 30, a frogmouth called very close to camp. We found it perched five metres away on a creekside stump. Other features noted included blotching on the underparts “giving an irregular, patchy” appearance. A different call, a double-note “koor-loo”, was heard.

The notes describe these encounters as “a most exciting time”. Indeed. This was the first time the Plumed Frogmouth had been heard; the first sighting of adult birds in the wild; and the first field observations of its behaviour. John Gould had two specimens of uncertain provenance when he described a new species, Podargus plumiferus, in 1845. (While subsequently regarded as a subspecies, taxonomists consider it a likely candidate for future resplitting.)

Otherwise, as my colleague Chris Corben reported subsequently, there were no corroborated records – or sites confirmed for reported birds - prior to 1969, when the naturalist David Fleay was given a nestling retrieved from a creek on Mt Tamborine, south-east Queensland. In 1972, the remains of a Plumed Frogmouth were found north of Lismore, NSW.

Conondale Range National Park

After the Beauty Spot 100 birds were discovered, it was a long time before anybody else spotted a Plumed Frogmouth, although I saw one at what is now the Booloumba Creek camping ground in the Conondale Range in September 1977. (Like Beauty Spot 100, that site continues to be occupied by frogmouths to this day.) In the 1970s, call playback was essentially unheard of as a birding tool in the field.

The Plumed Frogmouth is shy and secretive - unlike its much more common cousin, the Tawny Frogmouth, which shares its habitat. The bird rarely ventures into the open and is reluctant to leave the dense rainforest thickets it frequents, often perching high in the canopy and frustratingly out of view.

By the early-1980s, playback had become a game changer, as it was discovered that birds were responsive to taped calls. Chris expanded knowledge of the bird while employed by the Queensland Forest Service to survey wildlife in the Conondale Range. He found frogmouths at many new sites and provided tapes for a survey undertaken by the Queensland Ornithological Society. In November 1983, teams of volunteers scattered along the east Australian seaboard from Cooktown in the north to Sydney in the south gathered at dusk in suitable-looking habitat to play tapes. At the time, it was arguably Australia’s biggest single Citizens Science undertaking for natural history research.

Female Marbled Frogmouth, Imbil State Forest

Birds were found to occur across a wide area extending from the Many Peak Range near Miriam Vale in Queensland in the north, south to Lismore in NSW. By 1992, they had been recorded from 250 sites at 18 widely separated localities up to 104km inland and up to 800 metres above sea level. The frogmouth was not detected in north Queensland’s wet tropics – the nominate subspecies of Marbled Frogmouth occurs in Australia only in northern Cape York – nor in other well-known rainforest sites such as Eungella in central coastal Queensland and the Bunya Mountains.

Birds occurred in notophyll vine scrub, or subtropical lowland rainforest. This habitat was once widespread in south-east Queensland and north-east NSW but has been largely cleared. The most substantial of remnant areas surviving are in the Conondale Range, which accommodates well over 100 Plumed Frogmouth sites today. I live in the foothills of the nearby Blackall Range, where eight pairs reside within 10km of my home.

A big mystery is why the Plumed Frogmouth went unnoticed for so long when its extraordinary and evocative call is so distinctive. One factor is the expansion of community interest in natural history combined with the advent of playback and other field aids. Still, I and others had camped frequently at Beauty Spot 100 and other sites prior to October 1976 and heard nothing of interest. It is possible the bird had undergone a population crash due to disease or some other factor, and was at the start of a comeback when that “exciting time” fortuitously came to be.

Marbled Frogmouth immature female, Conondale National Park

Interestingly, the frogmouth in recent years has been found at high elevations in the McPherson Range on the NSW-Queensland border in temperate rainforest. This includes the vicinity of O’Reillys Guesthouse, an area visited by numerous birders over many years. It might be expected they should have been found there long ago; it could be that climate change or other factors account for relatively recent distributional change.

At the time of the 1976 discovery, with friends including Glen Ingram and Chris Corben, I was heavily involved in a campaign by the Wildlife Research Group (Queensland), Save the Conondale Range Committee and others to stop logging and the bulldozing of forest for plantations in the Conondales. The Plumed Frogmouth featured prominently in the campaign, the chief objective of which was to protect the area in a proposed 31,000ha national park.

Tawny Frogmouth cohabits with Marbled Frogmouth

A silver lining to this story is that we prevailed. Logging and rainforest clearing were stopped. The Sunshine Coast hinterland today is graced by the 36,000ha Conondale National Park. Campsites where once we encountered no others – even during busy holiday times – now attract thousands of visitors.

Outside the park, the Plumed Frogmouth survives in small vine scrub remnants that intersperse extensive hoop pine plantations in the Sunshine Coast hinterland; sometimes birds reside deep inside monocultural plantations. I have campaigned in recent years for parts of Imbil State Forest and other plantations to be considered for “rewilding”, allowing the recovery of greater areas of vine scrub.

Hoop pine plantation & continguous subtropical rainforest - Imbil State forest

Hoop pine is a native rainforest tree. If plantations are left unlogged, they are eventually colonised by other rainforest flora. Wildlife such as the endangered Black-breasted Buttonquail, also restricted to subtropical vine scrub, is quick to utilise restored plantation. Lowland rainforest is also the habitat of the Coxen’s Fig-Parrot, which many fear may be extinct, and many other range-restricted plants and animals. BirdLife Australia is among organisations that back the rewilding push.

Black-breasted Buttonquail

The timber company holding Queensland state forest logging permits, HQPlantations, has rejected submissions to conduct a small rewilding trial in a plantation adjoining Conondale National Park. Subtropical lowland rainforest is a critically endangered habitat. A key battle is over but the war is not yet won.

Rainforest at Beauty Spot 100

NSW Road Trip 2025, Part 2: New England National Park Region

 

Eastern Pygmy-Possum

Following our visit to the Snowy Mountains and other southern NSW sites, we headed north to the New England National Park area. We had originally planned to stay at the National Parks and Wildlife Service-owned chalets at Pt Lookout, where we had a pleasant stay in 2019. However, the bookings were cancelled as a result of fallen trees in the aftermath of Cyclone Alfred. We had been taken aback by the huge rises in tariffs for the chalets since then, so were happy to settle for a more sensibly priced cabin at Two Styx, a property just 4 kilometres down the road from the chalets.

Pt Lookout - Nothofagus forest (above), view (below)

The scenery as usual was stunning. From the vistas of mountains and forests stretching to the horizon in all directions from Pt Lookout, to other-worldly Nothofagus forests, rushing mountain streams in far more vigorous shape than 7 years ago, and lush woodland-studded farmland. Two Styx is a large, partly forested cattle property on the boundary of the national park.

Two Styx - cabin (above), forest edge (below)

I drove up to the cabins one evening and looked around unsuccessfully for spotted-tailed quolls, which we’d seen so well in 2019. I noted that the authorities had gone to great lengths to quoll-proof the buildings. I continued the short distance up the road to the lookout and walked the loop trail with my thermal imager. I was delighted to find at least 3 or probably 4 Eastern Pygmy Possums, only one of which was close enough to co-operate with the camera.The possums were feeding on small banksia flowers.

Eastern Pygmy-Possum

I also found four Eastern Ringtail Possums, both at the lookout and further down the road towards Two Styx. Eastern Grey Kangaroo, Red-necked Wallaby and Swamp Wallaby were common.

Eastern Ringtail

I found a couple of Brown Antechinus (Antechinus stuartii) in one of the buildings on Two Styx. What I had previously recorded as Brown Antechinus in South-East Queensland is now split as Subtropical Antechinus, and there remains confusion about the distribution of these two species and the similar Buff-footed Antechinus in the region. As well, the Dusky Antechinus I had seen occasionally in Lamington National Park is now split as the Black-footed Antechinus.

Brown Antechinus

One of the more common birds around Two Styx was Forest Raven, which has an isolated population on the eastern slopes of the Great Dividing Range in a relatively small area of northern NSW.

Forest Raven

Flame Robin was common both in the forest and farmland. Red-browed Treecreeper was seen at the same spot where I’ve noted them on two previous visits.

Flame Robin

Red-browed Treecreeper

A juvenile Red-browed Finch (below) almost came to grief by smashing into a cabin window. After a couple of hours of tender loving care, it recovered and flew off.

Superb Lyrebird was heard briefly and distantly a few times – very different from February 2019, when they were very vocal and seen commonly about Pt Lookout. Bassian Thrush was present in good numbers as usual.

Bassian Thrush

We ended our road trip (March 5-March 23, 2025) with an overnight stay at Deepwater, south of Tenterfield. I spent a bit of time along the first few km along the road to Emmaville, and along Deepwater River.

Deepwater River

Nice birds here included the chrysoptera race of Varied Sittella, White-throated Needletail, and big numbers of Whitge-winged Chough.

Varied Sittella 

White-throated needletail

White-winged Chough

NSW Road Trip 2025 Part 1: Snowy Mountains to Kandos

Mainland Dusky Antechinus

We headed off for a 19-day autumn road trip through eastern NSW on March 5, 2025. Kicked off with the first night in Grafton as Cyclone Alfred threatened to flatten our Sunshine Coast home and the rest of SEQ and north-east NSW. Then it was on to stay with our friend Kathy Haydon in Wyoming, on the NSW Central Coast, before moving on to the Snowy Mountains. We had two nights in Jindabyne and three nights at Charlotte Pass in Kosciuszko National Park.

Kosciuszko National Park - Rainbow Lake

Kosciuszko National Park - Rennix Gap

The only place to stay in Charlotte Pass in summer is the Stillwell Hotel. I’m afraid I can’t recommend it. Nice views but that’s about it. Pokey, unclean rooms with no facilities like a bar fridge, forcing you to buy meals from their expensive restaurant with its ordinary (and that’s being generous) and often unavailable food offerings – unless you come up with a plan to circumvent at least some of this.

Rocky scree below Rawson Pass

Snow gums on Mt Stillwell

Snowy River from Mt Stillwell

The gorgeous scenery is what makes a summer visit to the national park a treat. The ever-present snow gums always impress, especially at higher altitudes. We viewed Australia’s highest mountain from the north from atop Mt Stillwell – as well as the Snowy River - and from the south after taking the chairlift from Thredbo village. Thredbo is a hike of a few kilometres from Charlotte but a two-hour round trip to drive there. 

Mt Kosciuszko from Mt Stillwell

Mt Kosciuszko summit above Thredbo

Thredbo lift

We visited Rennix Gap, Rawson Pass, Rainbow Lake, Sawpit Creek and other sites. The pictures speak for themselves.

Rainbow Lake

Rennix Gap

Birds were not surprisingly scarce at high altitudes. A pair of Red-rumped Parrots looked good in the early morning light at Jindabyne. Flame Robin, Australian Pipit and Little Raven were the most common birds high up when woodland gave way to alpine meadows. A “murder” of Little Ravens of more than 200 birds near the summit of Mt Kosciuszko is the biggest concentration of corvids I’ve seen in Australia.

Part of a 200+ flock of Little Ravens near summit of Mt Kosciuszko

Red-rumped Parrot

I searched boulders and alpine fields with my thermal imager at night with zero success around Charlotte in my quest to spot a Broad-toothed Rat or Mountain Pygmy-Possum. The rat is sometimes seen during the day on the summit track between the ski lift above Thredbo and Rawson Pass. I saw none, but plenty of rat runways were evident under the metal walkway.

Broad-toothed Rat run

I found Bush Rat quite easy to spot around the Stillwill Hotel. I located a Mainland Dusky Antechinus (A. minnetes) near Jindabyne.

Bush Rat

I found a couple of juvenile Guthega Skinks (Liopholis guthega) at 2020m on Mt Stillwill. They have a distinctive spotted pattern, which evidently makes it easier for them to predate their favoured insects. This endangered species occurs above 1800m and is confined to a small number of sites in alpine NSW and Victoria.

Guthega Skink

Towards the mountain summit I also located quite a few Kosciuszko Galaxias, G. supremus, a small fish also confined to the highest reaches of the mountains. How they survive being buried under metres of snow during winter remains something of a mystery.

Kosciuszko Galaxias

One of the few surviving Mountain Pygmy Possum populations occurs close to the ski lift base at Charlotte Pass. When I was there the base was being prepared for the winter ski season. I saw 10-12 vehicles parked where there was little parking available; they were parked over alpine heath, meadows and rock crevices. Heavy earth-moving equipment was being used. The area resounded with the defeaning din of noise associated with the work. I was frankly astonished that the national parks custodians, the NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service, gives its stamp of approval to intensive earthworks so close to the pygmy possum population.

Charlotte Pass

We moved on to a few days in Canberra, where Gang Gang Cockatoos were surprisingly common throughout the suburbs. Crimson Rosella is abundant but one posing is hard to resist.

Crimson Rosella

Gang Gang Cockatoo

Next stop was the quaint town of Kandos, near Mudgee and at the top of the famed Capertee Valley. Not much time for birding here but on offer were lots of Eastern Spinebills and Musk Duck on a dam.   

Eastern Spinebill

Musk Duck