GREG
ROBERTS
The
Australian
12:00AM
February 24, 2018
A
critically endangered night parrot disappeared after being fitted with a radio
transmitter by a team of experts charged with saving the birds from extinction.
No
surveys were undertaken to determine how many parrots there were in the remote
East Murchison area of Western Australia before the parrot recovery team netted
the bird.
The
news emerged as it was revealed almost half the nests of night parrots
discovered in Queensland were abandoned after being discovered by scientists.
Critics say misdirected, if well-meaning, interference in managing the species
may contribute to its demise.
The
parrot was once widespread across Australia, but numbers plummeted from the
late-1800s. The first photograph of a night parrot was taken only in 2013, by
naturalist John Young.
As
few as 20 night parrots survive in a small area near Pullen Pullen Reserve in
western Queensland where Mr Young took his photographs. Three nests uncovered
by scientists working for Bush Heritage Australia, which owns Pullen Pullen,
subsequently failed to produce offspring. BHA says one nest failed due to heat
stress; a snake is believed to have eaten the eggs in another nest; and it is
not known why a single chick in the third nest died. A BHA spokeswoman said
five other nests successfully produced birds.
In
March last year, the night parrot was discovered at the East Murchison site in
WA by four ornithologists. Details of the site were sent to recovery team head
Allan Burbidge, who led an expedition to the area last August.
Dr
Burbidge and his team strung fine nets in an area of spinifex where
ornithologist Bruce Greatwich has photographed a night parrot. Researchers
walked through the spinifex in a line, hoping to drive parrots from their day
roosts into the nets.
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