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April June 2023 |
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WILDFOWL AUSTRALIA
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Wildfowl
Australia is proudly published by the Pheasant & Waterfowl Society of
Australia keeping our
Members
up to date with the latest news & events in relation to all things wildfowl
& more...
Publication by PWSA Australia Inc. PWSA.org.au
This edition’s story features a modern day miracle discovery.
The PWSA Inc. hope
our members enjoy the extraordinary feature story of the rediscovery of the elusive
Night Parrot on the 26th May 2013 by Mr. John Young.
The
rediscovery of the elusive Night Parrot by
Field
Ornithologist Mr John Young
John
Young is Australia’s foremost field ornithologist having more than 60 years
field experience, scans the Australian outback.
John expended thousands of hours over a period
of 15 years in search of an elusive quarry.
This
is a remarkable story of discovering a proverbial needle in a haystack
comprising thousands of square kilometres. This parrot’s discovery was never
going to be a chance finding but required absolute dedication, tenacity &
John Young fitted that criteria.
There are more than 700 species of birds in Australia
and approximately, fifty of those are parrots, some of the most colourful birds
in the world. They live in a range of different habitats from rocky off shore
islands, to open woodland, grasslands, rainforests, and deserts.
Up until the 26th May 2013, none were more
elusive than the Night Parrot that had been recorded as living in Spinifex in
the arid interior of Australia. In July 2012 the Night Parrot had reached the
status according to the Smithsonian Institute of Science in America, as the
most mythical bird in the world. And rightly so, as this most elusive parrot
had not been seen alive since the late 1800’s. There had been numerous
unconfirmed sightings from many who had caught a glimpse of what they thought
could have been this ghostly bird but, nothing was ever confirmed by a photo.
Numerous competent birders and scientists alike had searched for this bird for
over a hundred years and no one had ever come up with any plausible evidence of
its existence.
In 1990, not far out of Boulia in Western Queensland, that all changed a dead specimen was picked up on the road side in an emaciated state by Queensland Museum staff. Then in September 2006 a ranger, by the name of Shorty Cupid, picked up a second bird while grading a fence line on the Diamantina National Park in Western Queensland. The most significant thing about this discovery was that, it was a juvenile, which meant, not only were they still living in the desert but, they were breeding which made this discovery the most significant of anything that had been found in the last hundred years.
Having been in the field and working with most Australian birds, commencing at three years of age, I had started a casual search for this ghost from mid-1989 reading as much as I could about it in every bit of literature possible and I had concluded that somewhere out there, in this great desert wilderness of Australia that they must be out there somewhere. The Australian desert is just too vast for anyone to search it all and say they do not exist, that just seemed like nonsense to me so I began my search for a bird that had kept its secrets for more than a century.
Little did I know just how difficult this was going to
be? At the time I could not have imagined what such a difficult search this was
going to be, as many desert locations where spinifex grew, was in some of the
harshest environments on earth. I could not have imagined what I would encounter,
not to mention the heat, which reached 50 degrees Celsius at times, in the
summer months, flies in biblical proportions, no water on many occasions, dust
storms, no food sometimes, and breakdowns in the remotest places in the middle
of the Simson desert. Sleeping on the hot ground, encounters with a large King
Brown Snake (which I was extremely lucky not to be bitten on one occasion), to
being so remote that if anything had gone wrong, there would have been no way
that anyone would have found me. I look back at it now and realise how fool hearty
I was to take such significant risks but, the more people said it could not be
done, the more driven I became and without the incredible support of Tom and
Kathryn Biggs both financially and mentally, I very much doubt that I would
have been successful. My gratitude to them, cannot be expressed in words and I
thank them both with all my being.
The most logical place for me to start my search,
which was not going to be concluded for more than 20 years, was to sit around
remote waterholes through the night in several states, on the chance that one
or more Night Parrots may come to drink. Most parrots drink at least once a day
and I could not see why this unknown bird would be any different. For the first
number of years, I camped near the most remote water holes, cattle troughs or
dams where ever they were situated in proximity of vast tracts of spinifex. I
often set up one microphone facing the water source and another facing out in
the direction of the nearest spinifex and not once over more than 6 years did,
I hear a call of any sort that even remotely sounded like what I deemed to be a
nocturnal parrot. It was time to change tactics.
I decided to start searching many of the properties
around the site where the bird had been found dead on the roadside, outside Boulia
in Western Queensland. This time, not only did I again camp near water holes
but, I started to search desert caves, hundreds of them, just in case they were
roosting out of the hot desert sun in the cool. After 5 more years of doing
this, I finally gave that idea away. I almost got struck in the face by a huge
King Brown Snake. I remember this, like it was yesterday and I never want to
experience it again.
It was getting towards midday and it was very hot as I
slowly entered a dark overhang on a small rocky escarpment covered in tall
spinifex. As I bent over to go inside, it was very dark and as my eyes slowly
adjusted to be able to see, less than a metre from my face was one of the
largest King Brown or Mulga Snakes I had ever seen, in full strike mode!! My instinctive
reaction was to freeze, and stay still. As this huge and highly venomous snake
lowered itself and seemed to calm, I ever so slowly, edged my way backwards
until I was far enough away to be out of harm’s way, then I hurriedly walked
back to my Quad Bike and just sat there with the sweat of adrenalin just
pouring out of me in disbelief of how close it was. After that encounter I
decided to give away the idea of the birds sheltering in caves.
After more than 16 years of fruitless searching since
1989, sometimes only for a month a year and some times for 3 to 4 months a
year, the breakthrough occurred when a juvenile bird was found by Shorty Cupid.
The bird had been decapitated by hitting a barb-wire fence in the Diamantina
National Park.
This priceless discovery ended up in the capable hands
of Paul Nielsen, the owner of the Tattersalls Hotel in Winton. Paul kindly sent
me a photo of the bird. Realising, how significant the discovery was, it took
me only hours to meet Paul and his friend Shorty at the hotel in Winton to
discuss the find and for me to visit the discovery site on the Diamantina.
A deceased
immature bird was found by a stockman. Its discovery prompted John to intensify
his search
On
visiting the site, with my friend from Ingham, Bob King, we spent a number of
days there searching and listening with no sign of any Night Parrots except for
hearing numerous Bourke Parrots giving their characteristic calls, after dusk
and before daylight as they appeared to be coming and going from water sources,
somewhere.
Before I left the site, I decided to revisit the exact
location where the young Night Parrot had met its fate by losing its head when
it hit the wire.
The more I looked at where it had connected with the
fence the more I realised that it had been flying along a narrow belt of
acacias, down from an escarpment, covered in tall, old growth Spinifex to the South
and when it reached the end of the strip of vegetation, maybe 40 metres from
the fence, it appeared to me to take a turn to the left, at least, that’s what
my imagination told me, so I went to the end of the acacia strip and lined up
where I imagined it might be heading.
When I lined its imagined flight path up, I could
clearly see a band of mountain ranges across the Mayne’s River Flood Plain, which
measured later to be 11 kilometres to the North on Brighten Downs. I have no
idea why but, in my mind, that was going to be the next place I looked.
Accompanied with my young friend James Hardie, who
worked with us at Johnyoungwildlfe, a few weeks later we obtained permission
from the manager, at the time, before Peter and Carrol Britton, bought Brighton
Downs, to go to where I could see the mountain range from the Diamantina.
John
surveys Spinifex habitat
On arrival, it looked incredible, like a space scene
with steep mesas embedded with large areas of old growth spinifex in between in
the valleys. A site that I had rarely encountered the likes of before. It was
April 2007, only one year since the dead juvenile had been found in the
Diamantina, decapitated, eleven kilometres to the south.
We set up camp in a valley in amongst the mesas and on
the second night at 12.10 am, it was so still and dead quiet, when suddenly I
woke to hear a very faint call which sounded like “dee dit..dee dit”, way off,
further into the Mesas. I excitedly woke James who was sleeping in his swag
nearby and we could both hear what I believed was definitely a parrot. A call I
had never heard before in all my travels and years of searching.
I decided to mimic as closely as possible to what I
could hear then within maybe 5 minutes, I heard something land on the gibbers,
less than 5 metres away and it called. We were stunned. I knew it was a Night
Parrot. Within a couple of minutes a second bird landed. It called a few times
then James with his much younger eyes, set up my mini disc recorder and an 816 Sennheiser
Microphone and we recorded the first calls ever of what I believed was indeed
the mythical Night Parrot.
That was to be the last time I heard a call until July
5 years later a further 2 kilometres away into the Mesas.
In 2008 my friend John Stewart from Ayr Queensland
joined me on most desert trips during my continued search. On one occasion,
further West we both heard a call again but, it was different this time, more
like “ding ding” from the top of a mesa. It was so windy that I couldn’t be
sure we were not just imagining things but, it was in the same direction where
James and I had heard the calls in 2007 but, located further North.
Because of the discovery of the decapitated bird on
the Diamantina, I decided to ride around barbed wire fences in search of
feathers, just in case another bird hit a fence leaving tell-tale feathers
behind. Discovering feathers would give me some idea where to search because
the site at Brighten Downs appeared to go cold.
After riding a quad bike, sometimes with John, I
clocked up over 11,000 kilometres over a number of years discovering fence
kills of just about everything else, even a young Grey Falcon but, no sign of
any Night Parrots, so it was back to Brighten Downs, my most positive lead to
date.
John searching typical Night parrot habitat, standing within 10 metres of a roost site.
Night parrots inhabit Australia’s inhospitable remote inland arid regions
In mid-July of 2012 my great friend Corey Mead and
another very talented English ornithologist, joined me again on Brighten Downs,
both sworn to secrecy if something was found.
Our first night there we moved even further into the valleys
of spinifex another kilometre in from where John Stewart and I thought we heard
something from a Mesa top on a windy night in 2008. This was to be a night I
will never forget as long as I live. The three of us were spaced out along the
crest of a high mesa, overlooking a deep valley full of dense old growth
spinifex. By 6.30pm, every other creature seemed to have gone to bed and the
night was very clear and deathly silent. We had been sitting there listening
quietly for an hour and heard nothing so I thought, why not, I am not into
playback but, this time I played the call once. Instantly directly below us
there was this unmistakable very loud “ding ding”. There was no doubt in any of
our minds that it was a Night Parrot. No feeling can describe this unless you
had been there and had been searching the deserts for more than two decades. It
was an exhilarating experience.
For the next 7 nights the same call came from this
very spot, sometimes followed by a second bird a few metres further away and in
the early hours of the morning. I could hear them coming back, from where ever
they went to feed. Who knows where?
In May 2013 I returned again to this site with my
long-time friend John Stewart to try and hopefully photograph one for proof,
not to be, even though we listened here for several nights there was not a
sound. My heart fell to the depths of despair.
We decided to try another valley over a rise that was
just as good and at 6.35pm while we both sat on the rise, overlooking yet
another valley of deep old man spinifex, the familiar call came from the depths
of the gully again. It was a numbing experience, a second site or maybe the
other pair had moved here. Never the less for the next two nights we sat and
listened and got an idea of times and where they would go after their first,
dusk calls. There was a pattern, they seemed to call and slowly make their way,
seemingly through the spinifex, crossing a small clearing between clumps.
The next night saw us both sitting on the edge of this
small clearing in what I thought was their regular path before they appeared to
fly off. We were not disappointed.
The following evening, as predicted, they called from
the same spot, just after dusk then they slowly started to move towards us as
we both sat in our chairs, partially behind a large clump of spinifex.
We could hear the tinkling of pebbles being moved as
they approached and my excitement was electrifying, any second I thought they
would go past us and I would get a photo but, not so, what I think was the
male, dropped out of the spinifex in front of me and I think I was so excited
that I fired the camera to soon and missed him but, seconds later I got him
crossing a small clearing. I looked at the photos and I had one clear shot so I
said to John, “Put the light on him quick,” and for the next 35 minutes I
photographed him in every position possible, I even got a small video clip. INCREDIBLE!!!
No words can possibly describe this mind-blowing
experience. These photos were the first ever taken of a living Night Parrot and
it would go down in history. To protect the site, John and I drove the 1200
kilometres back home that night. For the first time in my life, I could not sleep
for three days due to my excitement.
Two
of the first live images taken by John Young after he rediscovered the bird on
the 26th May 2013 in West QLD.
John’s
efforts resulting in the Night Parrot’s rediscovery may have prevented the
extinction of this extraordinary and unique Australian nocturnal bird species.
John’s photos were featured in Birdlife Australia publication in 2013.
.........................................................................
Mission accomplished! I had photographed the holy grail of the birding world by obtaining the first images of the mythical bird. Regardless of the future, I am incredibly proud of my efforts & my vivid memories will stay with me forever.
John Young - 30th April 2023.
Postscript.
Since
May 2013 I have confirmed Night Parrots exist on the Diamantina National Park
in 7 locations with Song meters placed at each discovery site by me and a
scientist.
Four
additional locations of Night Parrot populations have been discovered by John
including one discovered recently whilst accompanied by Arthur & Cheryl
Keates. Cheryl observed, what we believe was the male returning to a roost site
in the twilight hours just before daylight.
I
have now discovered seven Night Parrot nests with eggs. The clutches comprised 6
x 2 eggs and 1 x 4 eggs.
I
have recently photographed a new population at the nest. There will be more to
come as this mysterious bird reveals its secrets
The PWSA Inc. recommends a podcast titled “Birding Today.” Host Thomas Doerig interviews John Young about his work and achievements
