Yes! More Australian Night Parrots Have Been Discovered
The nocturnal bird is so rare that it was once thought to be extinct. This recent discovery gives its struggling population a big boost.
Chunky, ground-dwellingparrotsfrom Down Under are having quite the2016. First the Kakapo over the summer in New Zealand, and now a new population of endangeredNightParrots, the Kakapo'scousin, hasbeen spotted in an Australian national park.
After nearly a century of presumed extinction, the Australian Night Parrot was after an exhaustivesearchby naturalist John Young. After that first discovery,Youngkept up his searching and was recently rewardedby finding anotherpopulation of the reclusive nocturnalbirdsinDiamantina National Park.
Leading afield teamof researchers from the Australian Wildlife Conservancy and the Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service, Youngreported seven separate Night Parrot sightings, including three active nests with eggs, a pair of parrots,and recorded calls of three more birds.Thediscovery significantly increases the range and recorded numbers of theNight Parrot.
“My immediate reaction was excitement,” Atticus Fleming, chief executive of Australian Wildlife Conservancy,. “But when you start to analyze it, the really significant thing about this is that these birds may be more common than we thought.”
Much of the mystery around Night Parrots comes from their nocturnal and secretive lifestyle. The medium-sizebirds live only in the arid and semi-arid parts of Australia, where they hop across the moonlitlandscape like kangaroos. During the day,theydisappearinto dense, spikey grass that can make them hard to findwith their camouflagedplumage.
Young, who spent 15 years scouring grasslands and scrubs for the mysterious bird prior to his 2013 discovery, found the newpopulation in a completely different part of Queenslandthan the previous one. And according to anAWCmodel, a largeportion ofDiamantina National Parkhas the type of roosting habitatNight Parrots prefer.
“There’s a lot we don’t know but the discovery gives us hope we’ll find more populations, both in central western Queensland but potentially even in other states,” Fleming. “As we learn more about the night parrot, its future starts to look brighter.”
While the search willcontinuefor otherpopulations, protecting known populationsisa top priority. TheQueensland Parks and Wildlife Service hasalready restrictedaccess to newly discoveredhabitat along with taking steps to removeold cattle fences from the area and reducingthreats,such as feral cats.There's only so much that can be done toprotect thevulnerable bird, but with a little luck and a lot of help, the Night Parrot—and Kakapo, for that matter—might be on the cusp of an incrediblecomeback.