Night parrot finding quashed

Research by a naturalist into the habits of the elusive bird has been debunked, scientists doubtful the evidence is true.

The images of the Night Parrot taken by ecologist John Young. Picture: JOHN YOUNG

Research by naturalist John Young into the habits of the elusive night parrot has been debunked by an independent panel of scientists, who are doubtful the evidence put forward between 2016 and 2018 is true or accurate.

Mr Young managed to take a photograph of the nocturnal, ground dwelling bird in 2013: the first evidence of the species in over a century.

The naturalist went on to spend two years researching the night parrot for the Australian Wildlife Conservancy (AWC) between 2016 to 2018, discovering a night parrot feather at Kalamurina Wildlife Sanctuary in South Australia, nests and eggs at Diamantina National Park in Queensland and managed to gather a recording of a night parrot call.

But an independent review of the findings was unable to satisfactorily prove the evidence after several experts raised concerns about the adequacy of survey and analysis techniques.

AWC chief executive Tim Allard said all of the research will be retracted to correct the public record.

“Due to the findings, AWC is retracting records of the night parrot published by AWC. The methods used in this work were not consistent with AWC’s usual procedures,” Mr Allard said.

“We are disappointed that our processes in relation to this work were not sufficient, and we are committed to ensuring that all of our staff implement and comply with appropriate standards for recording significant scientific data.”

The panel of four prominent ornithologists and conservation scientists found the recorded night parrot call from 2018 was actually a playback of publicly available recordings of a Western Australian bird and did not prove the elusive bird was in the Kalamurina region of South Australia. Likewise, the nests and eggs could not be proven to belong to the night parrot.

Some of Mr Young’s other research, including findings related to the Buff-breasted Button-quail, have also been retracted because of similar concerns.

The existence of the night parrot has been a mystery for birdwatchers and nature lovers around the world to solve for more than a century. Many have tried to rediscover the creature since populations of the species crashed in the late 1800s.

Several experts, including Australian ­National University scientist Penny Olsen, believe Mr Young’s picture of bright yellow and green parrot among the spinifex-clad ranges of a Brighton Downs cattle property, were staged.