The first discovery of Night Parrot’s nest

July 28th, 2016 | by LubosTomiska
The first discovery of Night Parrot’s nest
Conservation projects
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banner-ararauna1Biologists Steve Murphy and Rachel Barr announced the first discovery of Night Parrot’s nest. Those are the same researchers who captured a living specimen in the last year and examined it properly. Dr Murphy described how the parrot reacted at that time: “Remarkably it just froze, absolutely froze and allowed us to get within a metre or two of it. If it’s faced with a threat it’s likely it just freezes and hopes that it’s not detected.”

Discovery of the nest is considered to be a very special moment which may confirm the fact that this species is not at the edge of extinction. However, a week after it was found, eggs were destroyed. “Over the next six days we watched that nest at night from a long distance using night vision,” Dr Murphy said to ABC News.

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“On the sixth day, we’d organised some tiny little video cameras to be shipped from Brisbane and we went into that nest one evening to install those cameras and that’s when we discovered that the eggs had been eaten,” he added. However, researchers consider the gained information to be crucial for conservation of this species.

“This new information is absolutely vital for looking after these species,” Dr Murphy said

“Without knowing that it’s going into the floodplains or flying 40 kilometres at night, we simply can’t manage the landscapes it lives in,” he added. Queensland government confirmed an idea to establish a strictly protected area in the western part of the state and birdwatchers or poachers would not be allowed to enter it. This region is going to be monitored by the same way as in African national parks where rangers use specific technology to prevent poaching.

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According to the Queensland ministry of environment Steven Miles, strict penalty will take place in case of violation of law: “The ICO means people without authority going onto the land would risk a $353,400 fine or two years’ imprisonment,” he said.

“We’re very concerned that the disclosure of the location of the night parrot will lead to poachers and that’s why we’ve taken this somewhat unprecedented step,” Miles added.

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Title photo: (c) Steve Murphy

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