Discovery of elusive bird,
thought to be extinct for a century until 2013, leads scientists to believe the
‘dumpy budgerigar’ may be more common than thought
A large population of night
parrots have been discovered in Queensland’s Diamantina
Tuesday 25 October 2016
07.10 BST Last modified on Tuesday 25 October 2016 07.11 BST
The elusive night parrot has been
recorded in Diamantina national park in central-west Queensland,
expanding its known range and leading scientists to believe it may not be as
rare as previously thought.
The bird, described by Bush
Heritage Australia’s Jim Radford as a “dumpy budgerigar” or a “podgy, sort of
smallish, green and yellow parrot”, was thought to be extinct for more than 100
years before
ornithologist John Young managed to photograph it in 2013.
That discovery was made on an
area of reclaimed pastoral lease now known as Pullen Pullen nature reserve.
This month, another team of
researchers from the Australian Wildlife Conservancy (AWC) and the Queensland
Parks and Wildlife Service,
led by Young, announced they had found what they believe to be a larger
population of night parrots in the nearby national park.
The birds were discovered as part
of a broader survey of threatened species in the park. Researchers made seven
records of the bird this year: four sightings, three of which included nests
with eggs, and three recorded calls.
“My immediate reaction was
excitement – this is great, there are more birds out there than we thought,”
Atticus Fleming, chief executive of AWC told Guardian Australia.
“But when you start to analyse
it, the really significant thing about this is that these birds may be more
common than we thought. That is something that we will be developing in the
next few years as the study extends into other areas.”
The parrots were discovered in an
area of the park bordered by the Diamantina and Mayne rivers.
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