Australia's 'Bunyip Bird' on the brink

Dubbed Australia's 'bunyip bird', the Australasian Bittern is among the nation's most endangered species, and they've taken a liking to rice crops.

A pilot study conducted last summer identified rice growers as custodians of what appears to be the largest population ever recorded.

Neil Bull from the Ricegrowers’ Association of Australia (RGA) said it was very encouraging to confirm a minimum of 70 individuals using rice crops during the 2012-13 season.

"Only a small proportion of rice crops were surveyed, so the actual number was likely to run well into the hundreds. It's now clear that the rice industry can play in a key role in the conservation of bitterns," Mr Bull said.

Bitterns Boom in Rice from BitternsBoomInRice on Vimeo.

Ecologist Matt Herring, who is continuing the bitterns in rice study this season, said there are some key questions to answer in order to help the birds.

"Now that we know rice crops are so important for bitterns, we need to get a more accurate population estimate so that we can monitor them, especially for birds that are breeding," he said.

"We want to get a better idea of what it is about rice crops that bitterns like most.

"Many rice farmers I've spoken to are chuffed to be supporting an endangered species and are keen to adopt bittern-friendly rice-growing guidelines where possible," Mr Herring said.

Andrew Silcocks from Birdlife Australia is encouraging rice farmers to report their sightings of bitterns.

"This is a very poorly-known species and it's a national conservation priority. The more we learn about bitterns, the better chance we'll have of boosting their numbers."

Sightings can be reported online via the Birdlife Australia website.

Read more at: http://www.theland.com.au/news/agriculture/cropping/general-news/bitterns-sweet-returns/2682232.aspx

Night Parrot not extinct - proof emerges in Queensland!

The rare Australian Night Parrot (Pezoporus occidentalis) has been caught - on camera, that is - by a Queensland wildlife photographer.

We have posted numerous stories on this blog over the years about the nocturnal ground-dwelling bird (that some have unkindly described as a fat budgie), which had seemingly vanished from its outback Australian haunts, the spinifex grasses of the dry interior of the country.

Wildlife photographer John Young has spent more than 17,000 hours out in the field and notched up 15 years of searching, and says he has finally captured several photos and a 17-second video of the bird in western Queensland.

Last week he presented his evidence to more than 100 excited bird enthusiasts at the Queensland Museum under a cloak of secrecy, forbidding photographs and video. A commercial deal with a media company means Mr Young cannot publicly distribute the pictures.

Australian Birdlife Magazine editor Sean Dooley hailed the revelation as an extraordinary development.

"The night parrot is the Holy Grail of world bird-watching, it's probably the hardest bird in the world to see," he told the ABC.

Mr Young will not say exactly where the photos were taken in the hope it will protect the bird from poachers.

Watch the ABC's interview with Mr Young here.

Night Parrot makes Smithsonian's Top 5

The Smithsonian has included Australia's Night Parrot in its list of the top 5 most mysterious bird species. Find out who else made the cut here.

Between 1912 and 1979, birders spotted this elusive species, native to the interior of Australia, exactly zero times—leading most scientists to believe it had gone extinct.

Since then, a tiny handful of sightings of the nocturnal, yellow-green bird have occurred, and experts now estimate that the population is somewhere between 50 and 250 mature individuals.

After the last verified sighting in November 2006, when park rangers in the state of Queensland turned up a decapitated specimen that had died after flying into a barbed-wire fence, the Australian government chose to keep the find temporarily secret while they searched for more night parrots, so as to avoid an influx of birders flooding the remote park in hopes of spotting one of the world’s rarest birds.

Search for Night Parrot continues

Night parrots were thought to be extinct for a time, however there have been a small number of sightings in recent years in south west Queensland, the far north of South Australia and the Pilbara region of Western Australia.

Mike Griffiths has recently travelled to our region from Western Australia on a quest to film the endangered bird.

“It is highly likely that there are still night parrots in the area,” Mr Griffiths said.

“A few of the locals have relayed stories of sightings in the past.”

Night parrots are nocturnal, ground-dwelling birds.

They take to the air only when disturbed or in search of water.

They are a fairly small parrot that is a yellowish-green colour and with mottled dark brown, black and yellow.

Mr Griffiths’ aim was to get in touch with landholders who may know of night parrots.

He plans to then work with those people to set up motion triggered cameras to film or photograph the rare birds.

It’s Mr Griffiths’ passion and hobby to film unusual birds and small animals.

“People on the land know far more about local wildlife than they are given credit for,” he said.

“There is nothing more interesting than listening to their stories.” Mr Griffiths will again be in the area in September to check cameras and set up more observation sites.

If you think you have seen a night parrot or any rare and unusual fauna, you can have them recorded by contacting Mike Griffiths on: 0428 530 989 or the local regional Landcare facilitator Anne Holst on 02 6872 2144.

The location of these birds and animals can be kept confidential if preferred.

For any Landcare-related enquiries contact the regional Landcare facilitator for your area:

Anne Holst 6872 2144 (Western), Tanya Slack-Smith 6828 0121 (Namoi) or Danielle Littlewood 6840 7805 (Central West).

http://www.westernmagazine.com.au/news/local/news/general/extinct-night-parrot-seen-in-central-west/2625332.aspx

NZ Kokako snapper sought

A tramper (a NZ word for hiker or bushwalker) who is believed to have snapped a photo of a rare South Island kokako in Kahurangi National Park is being hunted by a band of bird lovers.

Golden Bay's Alec Milne said the South Island Kokako Investigation Team was keen to contact a woman who took a picture of a wattled bird on March 29. The woman was tramping between Salisbury and Balloon huts at the time, he said.

"She was on the side of the track and beckoned to a backpacker to have a look at the bird which she said should not be there."

Mr Milne said he heard of the incident through a driver who later gave the backpacker a lift out of the park.

Mr Milne said securing a photograph of a kokako, which has been listed as functionally extinct by the Department of Conservation, would be a coup. North Island kokako have survived and are protected.

But numbers of South Island kokako, which had a distinctive orange wattle, had been extremely low for the last 100 years, he said. However, Mr Milne said 57 unconfirmed reported sightings were made of the South Island kokako in the 20 years to 2010.

Rare extinct NZ Moa skull listed on TradeMe

A rare skull of Moa, a species of bird which became extinct thousands of years ago, has been put for sale on the internet by a New Zealand man who claims the artefact was discovered by his father in the 1950s.

The seller, Glen Brady of Hamilton, who trades under the name 'construct11' on the online trading website Trade Me, said the skull was discovered by his father in the 1950s while working for a bridge company in the Waitomo area of New Zealand.

'My father died a few months ago. He left the skull to me. It has been in a cupboard for many years,' Brady was quoted as saying by the New Zealand Herald.

The skull, belonging to the extinct Anomalopteryx didiformis, is 145 mm long, 80 mm wide and 65 mm high. The sale ends at 12.51 p.m. Friday.

Brady, who expects the skull to fetch him $10,000, said he was selling it to raise money for buying a house.

'I'm loathe to sell it. I'd like to keep it but it is the difference between getting into a house and not getting into a house,' he said. 'It is a very treasured possession, but it is a possession that will possibly change my life.'

He consulted Webb's auction house managing director Neil Campbell prior to placing the auction, who told him the artefact was very rare. Brady was not sure how much the skull was worth.

'I personally don't think $10,000 is too bad,' he said. 'I've never seen a moa skull on Trade Me before.'

Brady said he was waiting for written confirmation of the authenticity of the skull from Te Papa palaeontologist Alan Tennyson.

Te Papa spokeswoman Jane Keig said most of the museum's moa remains are not on display, the museum does have two skeletons on display and doesn't have the space to display all its moa remains.

She said the museum had around 100 full and partial moa skulls. 'The primary purpose of the artefacts is for scientific research,' Keig said.

To date, the skull has failed to sell.