stewartw@cognos.UUCP (Stewart Winter) (11/03/90)
I heard on the news recently that an ornithologist in Australia discovered a Night Parrot by the side of the road - a species thought to be extinct. Anyone out there no any more about this? I'd be interested in hearing about it. Stewart -- Stewart Winter Cognos Incorporated S-mail: P.O. Box 9707 VOICE: (613) 738-1338 x3830 FAX: (613) 738-0002 3755 Riverside Drive UUCP: uunet!cognos!stewartw Ottawa, Ontario The bird of the day is .... Peach Fronted Conure CANADA K1G 3Z4
kdb@macaw.intercon.com (Kurt Baumann) (11/07/90)
In article <9004@cognos.UUCP>, stewartw@cognos.UUCP (Stewart Winter) writes: > I heard on the news recently that an ornithologist in Australia > discovered a Night Parrot by the side of the road - a species > thought to be extinct. > > Anyone out there no any more about this? I'd be interested in > hearing about it. > > Stewart This sort of thing is happening more and more often. It seems that this has happened enough that the Simthsonian is doing a book on creatures once thought extinct and recently "found" again. -- Kurt Baumann InterCon Systems Corporation 703.709.9890 Creators of fine TCP/IP products 703.709.9896 FAX for the Macintosh.
rising@zoo.toronto.edu (Jim Rising) (11/08/90)
I know nothing about Australian birds, but when I first saw this posting on the Night Parrot, I looked it up in my Slater Guide. It says: "...rare nomad in spinifex, samphire and bluebush plains or rocky hillsides in arid interion; ... ; recent sightings in Lake Eyre Bason." So apparently it wasn't thought to be extinct. Question for Australian birders, I am soon to go to Australia, and I have lost my other Australian Field Guide (I think that it was a Princeton guide). Should I get another, or is Slater enough? -- Name: Jim Rising Mail: Dept. Zoology, Univ. Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M5S 1A1 UUCP: uunet!attcan!utzoo!rising BITNET: rising@zoo.utoronto.ca
andrewt@cs.su.oz (Andrew Taylor) (11/08/90)
In article <1990Nov7.162529.15156@zoo.toronto.edu> rising@zoo.toronto.edu (Jim Rising) writes: > I know nothing about Australian birds, but when I first saw this > posting on the Night Parrot, I looked it up in my Slater Guide. > It says: "...rare nomad in spinifex, samphire and bluebush plains > or rocky hillsides in arid interion; ... ; recent sightings in > Lake Eyre Bason." So apparently it wasn't thought to be extinct. No, few thought it extinct though there was scepticism about the reported sightings. I did post 2 weeks ago an (probably incoherent) article briefly describing the discovery. I'll post any more news, I hear. I'd be very interested to hear other reports on endangered birds. For example, were any eskimo curlew nests found this year? > Question for Australian birders, I am soon to go to Australia, and > I have lost my other Australian Field Guide (I think that it was a > Princeton guide). Should I get another, or is Slater enough? Provided you aren't talking about his old (1972?) 2-volume field guide but rather the more recent (1987?) single volume, yes its sufficient. I think its the best of the Australian field guides. The first edition has a number of mistakes which hopefully have been corrected in the 2nd edition. Field guides are fairly easy to obtain in Australia, larger book stores usually carry at least one. Andrew
kdb@macaw.intercon.com (Kurt Baumann) (11/09/90)
In article <1990Nov7.162529.15156@zoo.toronto.edu>, rising@zoo.toronto.edu (Jim Rising) writes: > recent sightings in > Lake Eyre Bason." So apparently it wasn't thought to be extinct. Did it give an actual date of those recent sightings? If not, see if you can find out. In one of my books it counts recent sightings as being in the 1800's for some birds. :-) Depends on the author. Kurt -- Kurt Baumann InterCon Systems Corporation 703.709.9890 Creators of fine TCP/IP products 703.709.9896 FAX for the Macintosh.
stewartw@cognos.UUCP (Stewart Winter) (11/13/90)
In article <1990Nov7.162529.15156@zoo.toronto.edu> rising@zoo.toronto.edu (Jim Rising) writes: >I know nothing about Australian birds, but when I first saw this >posting on the Night Parrot, I looked it up in my Slater Guide. >It says: "...rare nomad in spinifex, samphire and bluebush plains >or rocky hillsides in arid interion; ... ; recent sightings in >Lake Eyre Bason." So apparently it wasn't thought to be extinct. I heard about it on "As It Happens." Not necessarily the best source of info about birds, but ... They referred to it there as the 'big foot' of parrots. Lots of sightings, but none really confirmed. There was a large cash prize available for a verifiable sighting which had been unclaimed in over 30 years. -- Stewart Winter Cognos Incorporated S-mail: P.O. Box 9707 VOICE: (613) 738-1338 x3830 FAX: (613) 738-0002 3755 Riverside Drive UUCP: uunet!cognos!stewartw Ottawa, Ontario The bird of the day is .... Peach Fronted Conure CANADA K1G 3Z4
andrewt@cs.su.oz (Andrew Taylor) (11/14/90)
In article <9034@cognos.UUCP> stewartw@cognos.UUCP (Stewart Winter) writes: > I heard about it on "As It Happens." Not necessarily the best > source of info about birds, but ... They referred to it there > as the 'big foot' of parrots. Lots of sightings, but none really > confirmed. There was a large cash prize available for a verifiable > sighting which had been unclaimed in over 30 years. No it isn't a good source of information. Unlike Bigfoot there were 12 museum specimens. There haven't been many sighting in recent years probably less than 20. The only large cash prize I know about had been available for only 6 months! Hopefully the Night Parrot will join some other birds that were almost complete mysteries 10 years ago but we now know something about, such as the "Plumed Frogmouth" (southern sunspecies of the Marbled Frogmouth) and the Red Goshawk. There are still a some mysteries left. The Paradise Parrot hasn't been seen since 1928. Its probably extinct but there are still rumours! More famous is the Thylacine (also called the Tasmanian Tiger, a Marsupial wolf equivalent). The last accepted records are in the 1930s and its probably extinct. But there are still numerous reported sighting, some apparently quite reliable, but no solid evidence. Even stranger some of the reported sightings come from the mainland. It was thought to become extinct on the mainland 2000+ years ago because of the Dingo's arrival. We should be due for a new (not split) Australian bird species soon too. There seems to have have been one every ten years since WWII. The best story is probably that of the Grey Grasswren. In 1942 Norm Favaloro was travelling through the Bulloo Overflow a remote area of central Australia. An unusual bird flew across the road in front of his vehicle. He didn't have time to stop and because of the war couldn't return. 25 years later in 1967, he returned to the same spot and discovered the Grey Grasswren. I think there is likely to another species of Grasswren still to be discovered will a tiny range in some very remote area. Andrew