Night Parrot Allan Burbidge Steve Murphy Leo Joseph From Forshaw & Cooper 1978

What does a NP look like? Green, black and yellow; no big blocks of colour Dumpy, nocturnal terrestrial parrot ca 22-25 cm long, probably ca 100 gm No eye-shine; hops and walks Difficult to describe unequivocally

Taxonomy & phylogeny Note: Pezoporus – hints re ecology of NP? Neophema – ecology; identification issues Nocturnal/crepuscular, Habitats, ground nesting Joseph et al. (2011) Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 59: 675–684

Identification Very easily confused with other bird species, especially in poor light (numerous reports based on Neophema spp) Parker: like green quail in flight Night Parrots are nocturnal Like owlet-nightjars, do not have eye-shine Bourke’s Parrots come in to drink in very poor light – difficult to discern colours Elegant Parrots may also drink well after sunset (R. Johnstone pers. comm.) See also Joseph et al. 2010 Wingspan 20: 44-45

History & distribution Isolated populations ? (cf some other arid zone species) Genetic structuring? Murphy et al. (records to 2007)

Habitat Murphy 2012: Habitat descriptions associated with specimens, or recorded by authoritative collectors unambiguously list Triodia and/or chenopod dominated systems as being the main habitat types used by Night Parrots Habitat descriptions associated with unconfirmed observations also list Triodia and/or chenopod dominated systems as being the main habitat types used by Night Parrots

Biology and ecology The little information about Night Parrot diet lists Triodia as being important and other features attest to Night Parrots being primarily granivorous But: unusual bill shape report of invertebrate food Western Ground Parrot: Alan Danks

Biology and ecology Authoritative collectors maintain that Night Parrots do drink at waterholes BUT - obligatory or facultative ? - WGP doesn’t go to water in the wild - J Young experience Western Ground Parrot Photo: Brent Barrett/DPaW

Biology and ecology There is relatively reliable evidence that Night Parrots rely on Triodia systems for feeding, breeding and daytime roosting By comparison, the reason why Night Parrots use chenopod systems is less certain (Chenopods and succulents analogous to coastal heaths used by GPs)

Biology and ecology Anecdotal observations suggest that Night Parrots undertake seasonally-driven, landscape-scale movements Presumably related to diet/food availability Tail and wing shape and proportions suggest capable of moving far quickly Or: maybe just juveniles disperse? Or: irruptive? Or: ??

Biology and ecology: calls Frog-like calls and various whistling calls described in literature Said to sound like Ground Parrots (or Pied Honeyeaters, which show similar pattern and frequency) How much like GPs? Ground Parrot vocalisations varied, bimodal calling times NP expected to have similar calling times - implications for acoustic surveys Adapted from Burbidge et al. 2007 Emu 107: 79-88

Likely threatening processes Introduced predators (foxes, cats) (note similarity with CWR mammals) Altered fire regimes (esp extensive fires in Triodia) Introduced herbivores (cattle, sheep, camels, ….) Photo: Neil Hamilton

Strategy for the future First priority: we need to learn how to find NPs - determination of probability of detection, if present - test and evaluate different survey methods With any population found: - secure site from introduced predators - secure site from introduced herbivores - secure site from inappropriate fire management - determine basic ecological needs – diet, habitat, relationship with fire, breeding requirements, movements, etc

Queensland, 2013 John Young Night Parrot Photo by Jack Tran Photo by John Young

Implications of 2013 discovery The first real opportunity to test search/census methods The first real opportunity to systematically study the ecology of the species Critical that this opportunity is not lost Location details not divulged: maintain study integrity, land holder sensitivities, fire risk Martin Thompson