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Murphy, stationed audio recording equipment in areas of western Queensland where night parrots might be present. Night parrots are extremely vocal, particularly just after sunset when they forage for food and water, and just before sunrise. (Triodia is commonly called “spinifex” in Australia, but comes from a different family of grasses.) It revealed that prime night parrot habitat in Queensland consisted of areas of tussock grass called triodia that had been long untouched by fire, and close to water sources and seed-rich floodplains. Murphy managed to attach a GPS tag to one of the birds the battery lasted just over 11 minutes, but it was enough to briefly capture the movements of one of the world’s rarest birds. A group of scientists on an expedition, funded by a mining company, and led by Steve Murphy, an ecologist and night parrot expert, found a small number of night parrots close to the site of Mr. The magazine’s readers noticed aviary mesh in the corner of the photo, and accusations followed that he had illegally and excessively detained the bird, and possibly even injured it. Young supplied his night parrot photograph to Audubon Magazine, which was profiling him the photo had been published before but this version was uncropped. In 2016, he became a senior field ecologist at the Australian Wildlife Conservancy.īut scandal was never far away. His night parrot triumph brought a measure of redemption - for a while. Young once said, “I didn’t know it was a crime to get excited about a find and slightly exaggerate.” (He declined to be interviewed for this article.) When asked later about his history of making unproven claims, Mr. In 2006, he announced the discovery of a new species, the blue-fronted fig parrot but the authenticity of his photographs was questioned. In 1980, he claimed to have rediscovered the extinct paradise parrot, but could not produce evidence. Young had a history of making questionable claims. When he presented his pictures at the Queensland Museum, his discovery elicited “collective gasps and murmurs,” according to Australian Geographic magazine.
![ghost bird ghost bird](https://bou.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/Nyctibius-grisues_Fernando-Cipriani_featured-image.jpg)
Young captured photographic proof at a cattle station in the Australian state of Queensland that the parrot still lived. The night parrot was long considered the holy grail of Australian birding.