Video captures ranger's joyful tears on finding rare night parrot chick
Even in the heart of night parrot country it can be rare to actually see one of the world's most cryptic birds.
That is why the discovery of a young night parrot (Pezoporus occidentalis) this year set off an outpouring of emotion in the middle of the Great Sandy Desert in Western Australia.
A new video captures the moment members of the Ngururrpa Rangers and researchers shout-whisper through joyful tears on finding a nestling.
The sighting was even more unique because it happened during daytime, when critically endangered night parrots, as their name suggests, were hidden away.
Night parrots were thought extinct until they were rediscovered in 2013 in Queensland.
While the Ngururrpa Indigenous Protected Area is home to one of the largest populations of the species, this is the first time some rangers have seen a live bird in the area.
The colouring of the young night parrot helps it blend into the old-growth spinifex it uses to shelter. (Supplied: National Environmental Science Program/Ngururrpa Rangers)
Kathryn Njamme, a member of the Ngururrpa Rangers, had previously heard the chime-like call of the bird. She had even seen camera trap footage, an egg and their loose green and yellow feathers.
But she had not laid eyes directly on a living night parrot.
"We was really happy and excited to find a night parrot," Ms Njamme said.
"We all was crying there and holding each other.
"We wanted to show people around the world that there's a night parrot out there in the country."
How the parrot was found
Ms Njamme said during a July trip to the Ngururrpa Indigenous Protected Area she sought help at a spirit tree.
"That's where we asked the Old People to help us find these birds," she said.
"We asked the Old People if they can reveal it for us so we can find them out in the bush when we drew the rain."
A few nights into the trip, there was heavy rain over the desert.
The next morning the rangers went searching among the old-growth mounds of bull spinifex (Triodia longiceps), called "lanu lanu" in Kukatja language, which night parrots are known to use as nests and shelter.
Ms Njamme said that was when ranger Lucinda Gibson found a wet feather in the spinifex.
Lucinda Gibson examines a night parrot feather she found. (Supplied: Salty Davenport)
"She went round to look at that [feather] and she found that burrow [in the grass]," she said.
"That spinifex is a bit grey but she saw little bit of colours on it like yellow and green.
"That's when she noticed that night parrot was in the burrow."
Ms Gibson whistled and gave a hand signal of a flapping bird to Ms Njamme and the rest of the searchers.
Adult night parrots typically sport a coat of green and yellow feathers with black highlights.
Adult night parrots have more green and yellow feathers than nestlings. (Western Australian Museum: Arianna Urso)
But the rangers could see the juvenile bird still had a lot of grey and soft wispy feathers, which helped it blend into the grey interior of the spinifex lump.
Ms Njamme said the parrot may have been perched high in the spinifex because of the damp ground from the rain.
"It was a bit wet on the bottom, that's why he had to move up."
Rachel Paltridge, Kathryn Njamme and Lucinda Gibson after finding a night parrot. (Supplied: Salty Davenport)
Ngururrpa Indigenous Protected Area coordinator Christy Davies said the parrot was quiet and looked like it was close to the fledgling stage, when a bird learns to fly.
"A lot of young birds and baby birds … unless they're being fed by the parents, they just sit still and don't make a sound," she said.
"So that's what it was doing, just sitting there, not making a sound and relying on its camouflage to protect it."
Turbocharging the search for night parrots
While the moment of finding a juvenile night parrot may seem fortuitous, there is also deep knowledge behind knowing where to look.
By combining what is known about night parrot preferences with cultural knowledge, Ngururrpa Rangers have built a model for finding likely habitat in their region.
The habitat model was developed in a research partnership with the National Environmental Science Program and the Indigenous Desert Alliance.
"A lot of [rangers] have identified areas of likely habitat because they know where that lanu lanu is," Ms Davies said.
"They know where the water sources are and the seasonality of those water sources and where different plants are that form a component of the [parrot] feeding habitats.
"So it's understanding where those different components are that the night parrots need that helps us hone in on particular areas."
Rachel Paltridge, Clifford Sunfly and Jacob Bradshaw checking a predator control device that shoots poisoned gel at cats. (Supplied: Salty Davenport)
Knowing more about where the parrot lives and how many there are will help with conservation efforts to make sure it does not go extinct from threats like feral cats and unmanaged fire.
Rangers are also hoping to use and develop new tools to find the hidden parrots.
An AI tool is being developed to analyse thousands of hours of desert recordings to find likely night parrot calls.
And an environmental DNA (eDNA)analysis technique is in the fine-tuning stage for helping detect if a night parrot has recently used a water source.
Kathryn Njamme and Lucinda Gibson collecting eDNA water samples. (Supplied: Salty Davenport)
Ms Njamme said the eDNA tool could potentially be used by other groups around the country to find and help night parrots.
"We don't see much night parrot, [but] we're trying to look after them."
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