“We don’t know much specifics about the population of the Night Parrot. In the 10 years since it was rediscovered in 2013, a lot of effort has been put into understanding the species’ ecology, and how to find more of them. It is thought to be in the hundreds of birds though.”
“There is an argument that the Night Parrot has persisted for more than a century without us knowing anything about it, and that therefore, if left alone it will continue to persist. I don’t agree with this. We know that the Night Parrot’s primary threats – feral predators and inappropriate fire regimes – continue to impact the species across its range. It’s difficult to put an extinction date on it, but it is feasible the species could hang on for several decades yet, and my estimate for a year of extinction is therefore 2060.”
“The biggest challenge for the species is that it occurs across such a wide area, and in such remote country. While it is difficult, but possible, to manage fire at the landscape scale, cats are a different prospect. They are difficult to manage even at the site scale in such remote locations, and with current methods, effective management at the landscape scale in such remote locations and across such a wide area is impossible. To avoid the estimated extinction date, it will be necessary to develop management techniques that can mitigate these threats, particularly cats, at the landscape scale.”
Dr Nick Leseberg, Bush Heritage Australia, Research and Recovery of Endangered Species Group, School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Queensland