The Paradise parrot do you think it could still exist?

19 Aug 2011, 22:14

natamambo wrote:Interestingly enough, there was another flock of birds with it. Too small for me to identify, bigger than a finch but no bigger than a small flycatcher or sparrow something like that. They seemed to be keeping to company, every time it moved on they moved on too. Their presence is how i managed to re-spot it each time after losing sight of it, but when the bus went past they scattered too.

From that it could've possibly been Bourke's Parrots, who do alot of foraging and the like after dark, and live in flocks, unlike Night Parrots.

19 Aug 2011, 22:15

You see that little white spot on your map near the SA,QLD,NT border, well thats where i would start looking for Night Parrots

Im serious if we get forum members to throw me a few dollars i will be out there by lunch tomorrow and have a look around. Natambo the little birds with your Night Parrot more than likely would be a species of Whiteface, very finch like and i regulary see them feeding with budgies .

Nathan Morleyy · 19 Aug 2011, 22:34

My question is,
If the paradise parrot is definatly extinct then why is it all of the bird books?.

Thanks Nathan

19 Aug 2011, 22:45

I thinks thats the authors of those books still living in hope that the bird will show up Nathan.

19 Aug 2011, 23:07

Because it is a bird, that has been found in Australia. Admittedly it is abit queer that the Slater Guide had it on it's cover... but that's another thing. Basically, it's included in the books because it is included in the IOC list of Australian Birds, and Christidis and Boles, Even if it's listed as extinct.

19 Aug 2011, 23:40

Nrg800 wrote:
natamambo wrote:Interestingly enough, there was another flock of birds with it. Too small for me to identify, bigger than a finch but no bigger than a small flycatcher or sparrow something like that. They seemed to be keeping to company, every time it moved on they moved on too. Their presence is how i managed to re-spot it each time after losing sight of it, but when the bus went past they scattered too.
From that it could've possibly been Bourke's Parrots, who do alot of foraging and the like after dark, and live in flocks, unlike Night Parrots.

It wasn't the same as the little birds, which weren't parrots at all - their flight and call were more like a small flycatcher or honeyeater, they were no bigger than a sparrow. I know Bourke's well, have seen them in the wild many times around Lightning Ridge and Cooper Creek / Innamincka.

19 Aug 2011, 23:55

I think we all want the Paradise Parrot to still exist. But then we all want to win Lotto too. Some things just don;t conform to wishes. But I will happily join you in celebrating when someone proves they still exist.

LML

20 Aug 2011, 08:09

Big country with most of the population living in coastal areas ...leaves a whole lot of places for a little bird to live happily and unseen .

How many people see them and not being bird lovers dismiss them as just pretty parrots ?

How many property owners see them and keep quiet for the sake of the bird ?

And what would happen if a colony were to be found ? Would the do gooders be in there with nets trying to catch them to make up a captive breeding programme ?

Or would the habitat be left alone to allow them to build up numbers naturally ?

I hope they are out there slowly gaining in numbers .

Nathan Morleyy · 20 Aug 2011, 08:12

Hello Deb,
I agree thats exactly what I was thinking and they are only classified as prosumed extinct not extinct. So thats why I think that they still exist.

Thanks Nathan

20 Aug 2011, 10:18

Nathan Morleyy wrote:Hello Deb,
I agree thats exactly what I was thinking and they are only classified as prosumed extinct not extinct. So thats why I think that they still exist.

Thanks Nathan

Both Birdlife International and the IUCN Red List (The two governing bodies on the status of animals) list it as extinct.

And to Deb, in the location where the Paradise Parrot used to be found, there have been 69,522 records of birds. A survey is launched after every reported record, none of which have found anything. If there was a small haunt of them living somewhere, I think that many would be taken into captivity, if the population was under 50 anyway, because captive breeding of Psephotus is so well known, I think the government would decided that we could breed the birds better in captivity then we could in the wild.