When scientists discover presumed extinct night parrots are still alive they wonder whether to announce it or keep it secret. The news is too exciting not to shout out to the world. But the newly discovered population also is too fragile to risk exposure. This week’s news collection reports on
- a secret sanctuary for night parrots,
- the first wild bred and born babies in two re-introduced wildlife populations, and
- the most successful breeding season for an endangered population of massive parrots.
The next Daily Bucket news collection will be from OceanDiver on May 11th.
NIGHT PARROT
Australia has set aside a secret sanctuary for a parrot thought to be extinct until three years ago. The night parrot, once endemic throughout central Australia spinifex grasslands, now has a 56,000 hectare preserve in remote south-west Queensland. The parrot is a ground dweller and builds nests in the stiff clusters of spinifex (see lower photo). The birds come out at night to forage and eat, thus the name night parrot.
Keeping the sanctuary location secret makes it harder for anyone seeking to harm the birds and keeps them safe from curious voyeurs. Recordings of the parrots’ calls also are secret.
Actual recordings of its call, like the location of the colony, is being kept secret.
“There is an element in society that finds things kept in cages highly sought after, there is a trafficking threat, and we know the night parrot responds when they hear a recording of their call,” said Dr Murphy.
“By keeping it secret makes it harder for anyone who might want to do the wrong thing.
The full story is worth reading for the ecosystem details on how the native peoples’ use of wildfire once supported this parrot, a photo of the parrot in its grassland habitat, and why other populations may be found.
The Daily Bucket is a regular feature of the Backyard Science group. It is a place to note any observations you have made of the world around you. Animals, weather, meteorites, climate, soil, plants, waters are all worthy additions to the Bucket. Please let us know what is going on around you in a comment. Include, as close as is comfortable for you, your location. Each note is a record that we can refer to in the future as we try to understand the patterns that are quietly unwinding around us. |
Notable Births
Whooping crane
Although once abundant in Louisiana, by 1945 only two whooping cranes remained and they disappeared by 1952. The last time a wild-bred whooping crane hatched in the wild here was 1939. A program to re-establish the bird in Louisiana began in 2011 with the re-introduction of 10 captive-bred juveniles to White Lake Wetlands Conservation Area in Vermilion Parish. More juveniles were added to the cohort in subsequent years.
Now, Louisiana is celebrating the wild hatching of a whooping crane in Jefferson Davis Parish, a huge achievement for the five-year-old re-introduction program. Several pairs had unproductively nested in past years and the birth of the first chick signifies successful re-introduction. A few days later a second chick hatched to the same parent birds.
Adults are reproductively mature after four or five years, mate for life, and although females often lay two eggs, usually only one chick is reared. Chicks take about three months to fledge and are vulnerable until they can fly. The Louisiana population now has 42 individuals, not counting the two new chicks. The total whooping crane population in North America is about 600 individuals, most of whom migrate between Canada’s Wood Buffalo National Park (WBNP) and Texas’s Aransas National Wildlife Refuge.
Wood bison
Another re-introduction success is the wood bison reported in Alaska on April 22 when wldlife biologists spotted two wild-bred and born wood bison calves. Extinct in Alaska for over a century, a captive-bred herd experimentally re-introduced in Spring 2015 are the only wild wood bison in the US. Just one year post-introduction, two calves have been born and possibly more before this year’s calving season ends.
“All of the animals that went out obviously spent their lives in captivity and there was some doubt whether they could cope,” Seaton [head of the program with the Alaska Department of Fish and Game] said. “Now, some of those doubts can be put to rest.
Calving season has just begun and will run through mid-June”, Seaton said. He expects to see around 30 wild-bred calves this year.
Canada also has wild and captive wood bison populations, although some populations are infected with cattle diseases and must be kept separate from healthy populations. Many are hanging out with the whooping cranes in WBNP.
Kākāpō
Another parrot species, thought extinct until a population was found in the 1970’s, just had its most successful breeding season since New Zealand initiated conservation measures over 20 years ago. In 1977, only 18 kākāpō existed in the world, and this year 37 chicks have hatched in the wild. The population now consists of 123 adult parrots who live on predator-free islands. The new chicks will be counted among the population when they are six months old.
The heavy, flightless, nocturnal parrots, once common all over New Zealand, were hunted for food by the Maori and then by European immigrants. Their population decline is attributed to the introduction of predators such as dogs, cats, stoats, ferrets and weasels. By 1840 they had disappeared from the North Island, and soon after from the South Island.
Although a conservation success, the small population is not stable and is threatened by habitat disturbances and by aspects of their life history. For example, their breeding behavior exhibits the Trivers-Willard hypothesis ( a female can alter the sex ratio of her offspring depending on her condition, such as nutrition). New technologies are aiding conservation efforts by allowing remote sensing that permits the population to live on its own undisturbed unless an individual is endangered.
Each adult kakapo is being monitored closely and has its own tracking device that tells the scientists when the bird moves, mates, feeds and lays eggs. The device also signals when the mother gets on and off eggs and for how long. All data is sent to the email inboxes of relevant staff at kakapo operations bases via satellite [...]
The critically endangered kakapos do not breed easily. These birds breed only once in two to five years, when there is a good crop of fruits of the rimu tree (Dacrydium cupressinum). This year, the fruits’ supply has been good, scientists say, which is helping the big birds. The breeding season began in October 2015 and the last chick hatched on April 8.
Kākāpō are amazing birds. They are among the longest-living bird species in the world and are the
- only flightless parrot,
- only parrot and flightless bird with a lek breeding system, and
- only parrot with a polygonous lek system.
In breeding season, males leave their home ranges and go up to four miles away (hiking!) to hills and ridges where they establish their own individual mating courts. The courts are concave depressions that enhance the booming mating calls of males who compete with each other for the females’ attention. Female parrots choose males whose displays they prefer and hike to the court where their chosen mate does a little dance (side to side rocking). They mate and the female hikes back to her nest, while the male continues his display hoping to attract another female.
Everything about the kākāpō is fascinating, not just their sex life, and their Wikipedia page offers detailed life history and conservation information.
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