Oh brilliant stuff Alistair! Yes, John deserves some official recognition for
his years of work, not just by the birding community, but by the community at
large and at government and academic levels. He seems to be held in higher
regard on an international basis than he is here.
I am sure we are all aware of the academic practice of latching on to some
initial idea or discovery and then running with it long enough to get a bit
more information to publish , get some acclaim, and have the initial work lost
to obscurity because the initial work wasn't published. Totally unfair, but
it's how academia works, publish or be forgotten, dog eat dog.
It's a pity that our politicians aren't particularly interested in anything
that doesn't
earn votes but surely John's work should be officially documented at national
level. How can this be put into place?
Tony Russell, Adelaide.
-----Original Message-----
From: Birding-Aus On Behalf Of
eBirdACT
Sent: Wednesday, 12 August 2015 9:33 AM
To:
Subject: Let's not forget who found the Night Parrot
With discussion of the capture, release and tracking of the Night Parrot, by Dr
Steve Murphy ‘the world’s foremost expert on the night parrot’, we seem to have
forgotten the person that made all this possible.
I attended one of John Young’s talks last year and was captivated by his story
of 17000 hours searching for the parrot. I was left with the indelible
impression it was his single-minded perseverance, that he stuck with this
raison d'être. The rest is history; John found the current population.
I only wish Steve well with the current ecological study – a study which I
understand John has been excluded. The birding community, however, should not
allow John to become a footnote to this story. Since John’s exclusion, the
herculean value of his effort is highlighted by the premise (again my
understanding) that no new populations of the parrot have been found.
I believe that John’s story of finding a parrot, thought to be extinct, is the
story. The rest is necessary icing on the cake.
Regards
Alastair
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