birding-aus

Night Parrot.

To: <>
Subject: Night Parrot.
From: "Michael Hunter" <>
Date: Fri, 8 Jun 2012 08:54:17 +1000
Hi All.

        In a prolonged fit of enthusiasm, and time to devote to "Finding the 
Night Parrot", including a trip to the Wolf Creek meteorite crater with a like 
minded group of  experienced birders after a supposed sighting there a  few 
years ago, I looked into the possibility of using dogs. The idea was to spend a 
month or three driving along the margins of the Percival Lakes  and other lake 
systems, with the dogs quartering the extensive succulent fields and shrubbery 
that straddle the lakes.       
       
        One of the problems with the usual hunting dogs was whether they would 
be up to the conditions, eg heat and the terrain.      Walton did not mention 
whether his dog actively sought out and flushed the NPs, whether it was just an 
accidental flush, or what breed of dog it was.        Any suggestions as to 
best breeds for the job anyone?
      
       Otherwise, motion sensitive cameras are now reasonably inexpensive, and 
and an expedition equipped with a bulk buy of say fifty or a hundred of them, 
placed next to dams or along lakes across a wide area should eventually turn up 
a NP or two.  That strategy would  best wait for the next drought.

       When and if I retire, our search for the NP is still on the agenda.  
Lots of logistical problems though, one of which could be obtaining permits 
from the traditional owners to search on their land.

      Considering the interest and effort put into finding the 
most-likely-extinct Ivory-billed Woodpecker in the USA, the NP is certainly 
still out there, and really warrants a serious search.    Maybe we need another 
(or the same)  Dick Smith to get really into the idea.         The possibility 
of catching a pair of NPs and establishing a captive breeding and release 
population in one of our zoos might appeal to the public at large, and could be 
the basis for an appeal to support a serious expedition.

                                          Cheers

                                                Michael


      

  
===============================

To unsubscribe from this mailing list,
send the message:
unsubscribe
(in the body of the message, with no Subject line)
to: 

http://birding-aus.org
===============================

<Prev in Thread] Current Thread [Next in Thread>
Admin

The University of NSW School of Computer and Engineering takes no responsibility for the contents of this archive. It is purely a compilation of material sent by many people to the birding-aus mailing list. It has not been checked for accuracy nor its content verified in any way. If you wish to get material removed from the archive or have other queries about the archive e-mail Andrew Taylor at this address: andrewt@cse.unsw.EDU.AU