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Night parrot sighting confirmed in Western Australia for first time in 100 years | The Guardian

A night parrot has been photographed in Western Australia, adding another twist to the mysterious history of the species that was presumed extinct until it was rediscovered in Queensland four years ago. It is the first verified sighting of the bird in WA for almost 100 years and follows a history of unverified sightings, disbelieved reports and futile ecological surveys that rivals the hunt for the (presumably still) extinct Thylacine in Tasmania.

The discovery was made by a group of four friends from Broome who have dedicated the better part of seven years to locating the bird, examining detailed maps, trekking into likely habitats, and spending evenings in the state’s arid interior listening for unusual bird calls. This month, two days into a trip to an undisclosed location near a salt lake somewhere in inland WA, they heard “some really interesting calls”. “The calls to us were unfamiliar,” one of the group, Bruce Greatwich, told Guardian Australia. “We are quite experienced in these habitats so to hear something new was quite exciting.”

The calls were different to those recorded in the Queensland night parrot population, described by researchers in 2005 as “a ‘ding-ding’ call similar to that of a bell miner” followed by “a short frog-like ‘grieet’,” but were enough to indicate the bird might be present. The next morning a night parrot darted out in front of one of the group, George Swann, while he was walking through spinifex looking for entirely different birds.

How long between drinks for arid-zone-dwelling night parrot?

To further their understanding the Recovery Team have turned to researchers from the Threatened Species Recovery Hub of the Australian Government's National Environmental Science Programme, who tackled the question with an innovative method.

"We developed a computer based model that looked at the heat flow between the birds and their habitat, and how much water they would need to evaporate to keep cool", explains Dr Michael Kearney from the University of Melbourne. "Because little is known about their physical characteristics and we did not want to stress the birds by catching them for measurement, we instead used information about another, very well known, Australian desert parrot, the Budgerigar. In essence, we modelled it as a fat budgie."

"We also used measurements of precious museum specimens of the Night Parrot, thermal photographs of an actual bird, and measurements of habitat temperatures and possible food plants at the site."

"We found that, if the night parrots only eat dry seeds, then they would certainly need go to water on most nights in summer".

If they supplement their diet with succulent vegetation that grows at the site, they could really cut down their need for standing water, but during really hot periods over summer they would still need access to standing water to avoid dangerous levels of dehydration."

"Our findings show that water resources such as farm dams and natural soaks in night parrot habitat must be carefully managed. During hot weather, and especially when food is scarce, night parrots will rely heavily on these sites and could be very vulnerable to predation at these times."

"This research also helps us pinpoint future research areas to improve the management of night parrots – in particular, do they actually feed on succulent plants and do they change their roost sites in summer to places that are more sheltered from the midday heat such as burrows or caves."

"Managing the impacts of feral cats on Night Parrots and other wildlife is very challenging. Land managers need all the help they can get to increase the effectiveness of techniques", says Dr Stephen Murphy, an ecologist who is receiving funding from Fortescue Metals for research on the Night Parrot and who is advising Bush Heritage on the management of the bird.