This distraction was not of my making. I had no intention of entering the
fray but a few people could not resist the temptation to drag up the past
and assume that this wonderful discovery by John Young somehow atones for
all in the past. Their gratuitous remarks required a response. You are dead
right when you say that "some people just can't help themselves", but look
to your mates on that score.
As for the Night Parrot, I agree with all that you say. It is a wonderful
discovery and John Young deserves enormous credit for it. But that does not
erase the past, and the record speaks for itself.
Greg Roberts
From: Ian May
Sent: Sunday, 30 June 2013 5:39 PM
To: Greg Roberts
Cc: birding-aus
Subject: Night Parrot & John Young has done it.
This detraction of John Young is incomprehensible and I have to question why
such a post was not moderated and removed from the list. It seems that some
people just can't help themselves. The way I see it, the slur against John
is generated mainly by one person with a personal vendetta against him and
who, as a self proclaimed journalist, is using the poisoning influence of
his pen to draw ill informed observers into supporting his view. The
victimisation against John under any circumstances on this forum is
shameful.
There should be no detraction from the significance of this Night Parrot
discovery. It is the greatest Australian ornithological find that has
happened in my life time and John Young has done it. With limited
information known about the subject, he intentionally targeted the species,
and then searched relentlessly for years under the most difficult of
conditions. He persevered where many others would have given up and
through sheer determination; he eventually found live wild birds. There
was no dumb luck associated with this discovery. It is a testimonial to
his generosity and stoic character that after all the intentional
denigration, that he could or should ever consider sharing his information.
This monumental achievement is all in a class of its own.
Ian May
St Helens, Tasmania
_____
Greg Roberts wrote:
It is a pity that the well-deserved accolades being heaped on John Young for
his Night Parrot discovery are tempered by the sort of reference we see here
from Geoff.
For the record, there were sound reasons for raising serious doubts about
some of John's previous pronouncements, most notably his claim to have
discovered a new species of fig-parrot. I won't go over old ground but those
reasons are detailed here: http://tinyurl.com/nzytmlu. I invite anyone with
a dispassionate interest in that affair to carefully consider the facts. I
raise this matter now only because Geoff, Lloyd and others have done so in a
derogatory way.
It is not a case of "eating humble pie". I and other critics have always
admired John's considerable expertise in the field and I made that point at
the time. John Young is a bushman and birder par excellence and that has
never been in doubt in my view. What was always a puzzle to many of us was
why some of these ploys of times past ever came into play.
I have no doubts about his current Night Parrot record and congratulate him
warmly on his exciting discovery. But be assured that the circumstances
surrounding this discovery are a world away from other matters I have
referred to.
Message: 11
Date: Sat, 29 Jun 2013 10:22:42 +1000
From: "Geoff Jones" <>
<>
To: <> <>
Subject: Night Parrot
Message-ID: <>
<>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
Congratulations to John Young Maybe a lot of his detractors will grovel and
eat humble pie now !
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