Hello all
Prior to today I had significant concerns with the level of information -
direct or easily implied - that had been revealed about the ecology and
geography of the night parrot location given the stated desire to keep the
location secret. I believed it was possible to track down the location from
that info.
I am therefore gobsmacked at the suggestion that the location of the 460
000 hectare property can disclosed, but the location of the 50 000
hectare reserve on that property can remain secret. While 460 000 hectares
might seem a lot (and undoubtedly it would be to search on foot) the
reality is there is an abundance of freely available digital information to
identify the exact locality. I will not spell out how - so please don't ask
- but the time required would be measured in hours not weeks or years.
While I have no doubt all concerned genuinely want this species to survive
and thrive it would seem that personalities and petty politics have
intervened to the species detriment. I find this very sad and
very unfortunate.
I would think the last thing you'd want to do now is widely and
freely distribute the call given we know where it is and apparently the
species readily responds to it. If the call is to be released I would think
it should only go to small trusted groups of experienced birders with clear
plans to assess similar habitat across its former range, near and far.
The only upside in all of this situation is now that we pretty much know
the location there may be opportunities to harness the power of citizen
science to identify similar landscapes/habitat across its former range,
either to survey for unknown populations or identify areas where insurance
populations of this species might be established in future. This may be one
of the very few benefits of this disclosure.
While it may seem trite, please everyone think of the night parrot not
yourselves. Most of us may never get to see it in our lifetime but if we
are responsible now hopefully our children or grandchildren might be able
to.
Regards, Ben
On Saturday, 14 May 2016, Tony Russell <> wrote:
> Much as I would give my left leg to see a night parrot I have to agree very
> strongly with Fiona. Keep it secret.
>
> Tony.
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Birding-Aus
> <javascript:;>] On Behalf Of
> Fiona Anderson
> Sent: 14 May 2016 16:34
> To: <javascript:;>
> Subject: [Birding-Aus] Fwd: night parrot on brighton downs
>
>
>
> Sent from my iPad
>
> Begin forwarded message:
>
> From: Fiona Anderson < <javascript:;><mailto:
> <javascript:;>>>
> Date: 14 May 2016 at 4:08:03 PM AEST
> To: Greg Roberts < <javascript:;><mailto:
> <javascript:;>>>,
> Susie Lycett < <javascript:;><
> <javascript:;>>>, klaus
> < <javascript:;><
> <javascript:;>>>
> Cc: birding-aus
> < <javascript:;><mailto:
> <javascript:;>>>
> Subject: Re: [Birding-Aus] night parrot on brighton downs
>
>
> Sorry Greg. I disagree. Let the location be kept as secret as much as
> possible . At this stage we cannot have birders stomping all over the
> place
> looking, flushing,calling, etc to find the bird. At least a minority of
> these people cannot be trusted as has been shown so many times. There is
> also a side problem of piracy. How much would night parrots eggs be worth
> on the overseas market and if they are like similar species they would be
> easy to rear and sell . Let us leave it to the experts and I for one feel
> that John Young and the AWC can be trusted. I donate quite a lot of money
> to the AWC as I know they are doing a great job with endangered species.
> Cheers, Fiona
> Sent from my iPad
> .
> On 14 May 2016, at 3:33 PM, Greg Roberts
> < <javascript:;><
> <javascript:;>>> wrote:
>
> here:
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