A new parrot for Australia?

[pete woodall]

At a meeting last night as part of O"Reilley's Bird Week in Lamington National Park, John Young announced the "discovery" of a new parrot and in the Courier Mail, Brisbane's daily newspaper, this morning there is a stunning photograph of it taken by John Young. [The photograph is NOT on the CM's website this morning - perhaps it will come later or perhaps Young has copyright on it and I'm not going to infringe that copyright by scanning the photo]

It is clearly related to the Fig-parrots, but differs from the other Australian sub-species of the Double-eyed Fig parrot Cyclopsitta diopthalama in its head markings - it has blue around the bill, not red, and has a large red stripe below the eye and apparently no red on the rump. The newspaper report called it the Blue-fronted Fig-Parrot which seems appropriate.

John Young, sometimes called the Wildlife Detective for his ability to find rare and difficult species, has apparently known about them for 10 years but has been relunctant to say much for fear that they will end up in captivity or a museum cabinet! Even now he has not disclosed the exact locality where he watched a nest but it is somewhere in the Queensland/New South Wales border country of high, rugged rainforest. He has seen up to 5 individuals.

This area is also in the range of Coxen's Fig-Parrot, generally considered one of the three sub-species of the Double-eyed Fig-Parrot found in Australia. The fact that these two may be living (?breeding) sympatrically suggests that the new discovery may be a full species.

Young says that he has collected some feathers so DNA analysis may provide the answer.

Unfortunately, unlike the Fig-Parrots around Cairns and north Queensland, these southern ones are very, very hard to contact. Coxen's is known from early museum specimens, there are no photographs or sound recordings of it and some people consider that it is extinct although there have been quite a number of reports of it from quite reliable observers. I've never seen one although I know and trust the reports of some people that have. That there is now yet another Fig-Parrot in southern Queensland is quite remarkable.

[Hidde Bruinsma]

Hi Pete,

These birds are "coxeni". They are the adults of this bird. Until
recently it was only known from juvenile and subadult skins. In 1996 Young discovered fig parrots while searching for nesting Sooty Owls in the upper Hastings River valley. Young described these birds as different from "coxeni" as it was known till then: extensive blue on the forehead and blue markings on the bend of the wing. Based on this information an illustration was prepared and published in Wildlife Australia, 35 (2):P.31, 1998. This set Joseph Forshaw on a quest of re-examanation of specimens of "coxeni" in Australia, New York and Tring. The result of this was the find that none of the 50-plus specimens of the taxon was adult and that the traditional description of male/female differences in colouration does not hold up. However, in no other form of Cyclopsitta diopthalma do juveniles differ from the adults. So, now Young managed to photograph an adult "coxeni" and proved this difference between young and adults. This also proves the taxonomical probability if not fact that "coxeni" is a full species and not merely a race. In that sense "coxeni" is a new species of parrot for Australia. And a very rare one as such !

[Xenospiza]

So does it look like this picture of coxeni (drawn with "technical assistance" by John Young!): http://www.threatenedspecies.environment.nsw.gov.au/tsprofile/images/cyc-dio.jpg ?

[pete woodall]

Hi Hidde and Xenospiza

There is now a very small photo of the parrot in question at John Young's website, www.johnyoungwildlife.com and yes it does look "like" the picture that you link to but it is not exactly the same.

One report indicated that there is a scientific paper in preparation by John Young and Dr Ian Gynther (who has been leading the Coxen's recovery program for the EPA)investigating the relationship between the (three) taxa of fig-parrots and this taxon, so I guess that we'll have to wait to see what that shows.

Just a comment on Hidde's report - I find it very surprsing that among 50-plus specimens of coxeni there were no adults ... and if that were correct then wouldn't a population with that many young birds be expanding and not on the verge of extinction? It is also clear from the newspaper article that John Young saw young birds of this "new" taxon but didn't immediately comment that they were coxeni.

But this is all second or third hand and it is very difficult (for me) to judge what it correct. I'm sure that it will all come out in time.

Cheers

Peter

[Hidde Bruinsma]

Hi Pete,

Thanks for the link to the John Young article and photograph ! I've been looking for it on the web without succes. I agree that Forshaw's conclusion about all those specimens of "coxeni" being either juvenile or subadults isn't easy to believe. But the guy is the world authority so I'm willing to take his word for it. It is remarkable therefore that, evidently, he isn't involved in the upcoming description. Although Gynther should know a thing or two about these birds as well.
If this bird really turns out to be a distinct taxon, meaning distinct from "coxeni" as well, then how can both be living in the exact limited area ? Two birds so closely related should at least be segregated by altitude if not latitude. In New Guinea the Double-eyed FP and Orange-breasted FP largely complement each other in distribution. So the same is to be expected in Australia.
All in all, it should be interesting to read the article and the reactions to it.

[Andy Benson]

Hi All

Great to see a new discovery in Australia, congratulations to John Young! It will certainly be an interesting story to follow.
I agree with you Pete regarding the 50-plus juvenile specimens, it seems rather unlikely that collectors only managed to get the skins of juveniles.
Also, wouldn't Joseph Foreshaw need to know what an adult "coxeni" looked like before concluding that all specimens were juveniles?

cheers
Andy

[Edward]

Fascinating news, Pete, regardless of whether it is a new species or 'just' an adult coxeni. Keep us posted of any news. He seems to be a very interesting bloke John Young, I'd always wondered what Merv Hughes had done after retiring from cricket. Now I know.

E

[pete woodall]

I'll transcribe a little more from the newspaper article which may fill in a few more gaps - but then again remember that this is the reporter's version!

"As well as collecting the parrot's newly developing pin feathers. Young has amassed a comprehensive profile of the bird, with dozens of photographs of the adult and young birds of both sexes, their habitat, as well as egg measurements and diagrams of nesting holes."

"I can understand why nobody has come across it before" he said. "It's only through my climbing skills and knowledge of bird behaviour that I've found it. I feel honoured and absoluterly privileged to have those skills .... A picture of a juvenile bird in the nest was taken "late one afternoon, 172 feet up, hanging off the top of a giant rose gum and probably 80 or 90 feet above the rainforest canopy".

"Young said the new bird was like a fig parrot, but bigger and with behaviour never before recorded. "This new bird does what fig parrots do except there are incredible differences in the food it eats, where it lives and its size. Its feeding is way beyond what anyone could possibily imagine. It feeds on plants that none of us would have expected. I would never have looked at the plants this bird feeds on. " [Philip Hammond in The Courier Mail, Brisbane, 8 November 2006 pp.32-33]

The comments on food are intriguing - I have no idea what plants he is talking about but pretty obviously not figs. Perhaps this explains why the two taxa can live together.

Yes, Ed, the mo does look like that of Merve Hughes but I think that this statement clearly shows that it isn't Merve incognito - "That is coming from spending thousands and thousands of hours in the forest, camping up in the canopy. I sleep in crows nest ferns 100 feet (30 metres) up, as often as not in pouring rain and fog. So to me, this bird was like some mythical ghost". With all due respect to a great Aussie cricketer, I think that Merve would struggle to get a couple of metres off the ground!

Cheers

[Andy Benson]

Another article regarding this new parrot is in today's Weekend Australian - 11/11/06 - "Doubters peck at 'new parrot' claim" http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,20867,20737974-30417,00.html.
The article by Greg Roberts, with the apparent 'doubts' coming from his chosen experts whom he has called on before in other recent articles, suggests that the bird is a fake - merely a red-browed fig-parrot that has had it's brow coloured blue.
This is obviously a sensationalist claim designed to discredit John Young as well as the Queensland EPA.
It always amazes me that there are so many people ready to bring someone down after a great achievement.

[John Cantelo]

"As well as collecting the parrot's newly developing pin feathers. Young has amassed a comprehensive profile of the bird, with dozens of photographs of the adult and young birds of both sexes, their habitat, as well as egg measurements and diagrams of nesting holes."

As a matter of interest now it's two years on are any of these dozens of photos now on the web or printed in journals? All I could find after a brief search was the painting of this bird. Also has there been anything on an analysis of the DNA in those feathers? Have details of the location been released and have independent experts seen them? Or is this claim still mired in controversy? I understand that some of Mr Young's other reports have been controversial - is this sour grapes or a result of responsible secrecy by the finder? I've no axes to grind (never even been to Oz), just curious,

[pete woodall]

Hi John
Unfortunately there seems to be nothing further on this. There is a report that the feathers have been "lost" - I'm not sure of the truth of this. There has also been a report that John Young has found the nest of a Coxen's Fig-parrot this year but it is all second-hand so I won't comment further. I, too, have no axe to grind, I'd just appreciate more information.
Cheers, Pete

[John Cantelo]

Hi John
Unfortunately there seems to be nothing further on this. There is a report that the feathers have been "lost" - I'm not sure of the truth of this. There has also been a report that John Young has found the nest of a Coxen's Fig-parrot this year but it is all second-hand so I won't comment further. I, too, have no axe to grind, I'd just appreciate more information.
Cheers, Pete

Thanks, Pete. This seems a very strange state of affairs. Unless there are extraordinary circumstances we're not privvy to, it seems inexplicable that such evidence is not yet in the public domain. I suspect that you're very wise not to comment or speculate any further,