Memorandum to: The Director of Birds Australia
From: Birds Australia Rarities Committee (BARC)
Date: 15th July 2007
Voting Members: Mike Carter Andrew Silcocks
Rohan Clarke Glenn Holmes
John Hatch Jamie Matthew
Tony Palliser Danny Rogers
Cc. Ron Johnstone
Submission No 506: Night Parrot Pezoporus occidentalis Minga Well, WA, 12th April 2005. Submitted by: Robert Davis and Brenden Metcalf
This submission relates to the sighting of two and perhaps three Night Parrots P. occidentalis at a water-hole surrounded by Mulga woodland at dusk during a routine fauna survey at Minga Well in the Pilbara region, WA on the 12th April 2005. This followed an unconfirmed report made by Biota Environmental Sciences in a nearby area in 2004. Subsequent searches at both this well and the Moojari Well were undertaken for an additional five night’s and once at dawn, but without success.
As the birds were seen at dusk it was not possible to obtain photographs and the descriptive information was understandably limited. Interestingly, the birds were seen to ‘run’ a short distance towards the pool. The birds were observed for several minutes from about 12 metres during “visible twilight” and described as a “dull greenish colour, almost yellowish-green on the breast with distinctly marked black-flecked streaked appearance. Overall the birds were larger and squatter in appearance than Budgerigar, with the head more rounded and ‘bull-headed’ and a fatter body giving a general dumpy appearance”. The legs and tail appeared relatively short and this prompted the observers to rule out Budgerigar completely. Bourke’s Parrot was seen at the same locality on the same evening but again was quickly eliminated by jizz and colour. Other species considered by the observers but dismissed on various grounds including that of having longer tails and more slender bodies were Mulga Parrot and Elegant Parrot.
The first round of voting resulted in six votes in favour of acceptance and two against. Those in favour were happy that the above description could have only involved Night Parrot and furthermore in this instance we have two experienced observers who are both 100% positive. Those voting against acceptance remained concerned about the brevity of the sighting during such conditions, the absence of a spotlight and the fact that one observer saw only two birds whilst the other reported seeing three. After considerable discussion over several months and another round of voting one of the dissenters was persuaded to change their vote thus achieving the necessary minimum of seven in favour to confirm acceptance.
As stated within the submission the Night Parrot is a poorly known and enigmatic species of inland Australia, currently listed as critically endangered and at one time thought to be extinct (Garnett et al. 1993). Although a number of unconfirmed sightings exist, only two specimens were collected during the 20th Century; one from the upper Gascoyne in 1912 and one from south-west Queensland in 1990.. Together with this sighting from the Pilbara and yet another specimen, this time a juvenile, found in south-west Queensland on 17th September 2006 (Stafford 2007) gives hope that the species is extant in at least two areas of Australia.
Selected Bibliography:
· Bamford, M.J. (2005a). Preliminary Management Plan for the Night Parrot Pezoporus occidentalis in the vicinity of the Fortescue Marshes. Unpubl. report by Bamford Consulting Ecologists to the Fortescue Metal Group, Perth.
· Bamford, M.J. (2005b). Survey for the Night Parrot Pezoporus occidentalis in the Cloud Break Project Area, Fortescue Metals Group. Unpubl. report by Bamford Consulting Ecologists to Fortescue Metals Group, Perth.
· Blyth, J. (1996). Night Parrot (Pezoporus occidentalis) Interim Recovery Plan for Western Australia. 1996-1998. Western Australian Threatened Species and Communities Unit, CALM, Perth.
· Blyth, J., Burbidge, A., Kendrick, P. and Boles, W. (1996). Report on an expedition to the Western Desert and East Pilbara areas to search for Night Parrots (Pezoporus occidentalis) November 12-29 1996. Unpubl. report.
· Blyth, J. and Boles, W. (1997). Report on an expedition to the Murchison, Gascoyne and East Pilbara areas to search for Night Parrots November 8-23 1997. Unpubl. report.
· Davis, R.A., Wilcox, J.A., Metcalf, B.M. and Bamford, M.J. (2005). Fauna survey of proposed Iron Ore Mine, Cloud Break. Unpubl. report by Bamford Consulting Ecologists to FMG, Perth.
· Davies, S., Bamford, M. and Bamford, M. (1988). The Night Parrot: a search in the Lake Disappointment area, September 1987. RAOU Report No. 49. RAOU, Melbourne.
· Environment Australia (2000). Revision of the Interim Biogeographic Regionalisation for Australia (IBRA) and Development of Version 5.1, Summary Report. Environment Australia, November 2000.
· Garnett, S. Crowley, G., Duncan, R., Baker, N. and Doherty, P. (1993), ‘Notes on live Night Parrot sightings in north-western Queensland’, Emu 93: 292-296.
· Higgins, P.J. (Ed.) (1999), Handbook of Australian, New Zealand and Antarctic Birds. Vol. 4 Parrots to Dollarbird. Oxford University Press, Melbourne. Stafford, A. (2007), ‘Night Parrot find suppressed’ Wingspan 17: (2) 12-13.
Tony Palliser
Chairman, Birds Australia Rarities Committee