It might be of interest to some here, if you haven't heard already, that an
Australian birder has recently obtained photos and video of a Night Parrot, the
first ever, apparently by using playback of a recording he'd made a few years
earlier. The photos and videos were shown to an audience in Brisbane yesterday,
but the recording, also the first ever, wasn't played.
Given that this species, seen only a few times since its discovery in the
1800s, is nocturnal and spends most of its time at ground level in thick
spinifex grass in remote parts of Australia, it would seem that knowing what it
sounds like is essential to determining its range and how many there are. All
we've had until now are the call's description from a century ago: a low, drawn
out, double noted whistle.
It's not yet clear how good the recording is. According to this interview, it
was made at a distance of 1.5km:
http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/breakfast/rare-night-parrot-found-in-western-australia/4795592
and it's also not clear whether more recordings were made during the encounter.
Hopefully they were.
A bit more information here:
http://www.australiangeographic.com.au/journal/mysterious-night-parrot-caught-on-film.htm
and here:
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-07-03/man-claims-to-have-filmed-the-rare-australian-night-parrot/4796342
Peter Shute
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