New Parrot Discovered
Posted by: Loren Coleman on November 7th, 2006
New parrot species found in Queensland
7th November 2006, 22:09 WST
A veteran bird-watcher has discovered a new species of parrot in Queensland after a decade of searching.
Queensland naturalist and wildlife cinematographer John Young has discovered the rare blue-fronted fig parrot in a rugged southern Queensland forest after an exhaustive search.
The exact site of the finding has not been disclosed.
Although Mr Young has known of the bird’s existence for 10 years, he only recently found evidence that the parrot differed from the endangered Coxen’s fig parrot that overlaps in range.
Three fig parrots were known to occur in Australia and all are regarded as subspecies of the double-eyed fig parrot.
Queensland Environment Minister Lindy Nelson-Carr said the blue-fronted fig parrot represented a fourth fig parrot subspecies or a separate species.
She said the Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service had received unconfirmed fig parrot sightings in the Burnett region and the Sunshine and Gold Coast hinterlands over the past decade, but no photograph, specimen or sound recording had been made.
Naturalist John Gould described the first fig parrot in Australia 130 years ago.
About Loren Coleman
Loren Coleman is one of the world’s leading cryptozoologists, some say “the” leading living cryptozoologist. Certainly, he is acknowledged as the current living American researcher and writer who has most popularized cryptozoology in the late 20th and early 21st centuries.
Starting his fieldwork and investigations in 1960, after traveling and trekking extensively in pursuit of cryptozoological mysteries, Coleman began writing to share his experiences in 1969. An honorary member of Ivan T. Sanderson’s Society for the Investigation of the Unexplained in the 1970s, Coleman has been bestowed with similar honorary memberships of the North Idaho College Cryptozoology Club in 1983, and in subsequent years, that of the British Columbia Scientific Cryptozoology Club, CryptoSafari International, and other international organizations. He was also a Life Member and Benefactor of the International Society of Cryptozoology (now-defunct).
Loren Coleman’s daily blog, as a member of the Cryptomundo Team, served as an ongoing avenue of communication for the ever-growing body of cryptozoo news from 2005 through 2013. He returned as an infrequent contributor beginning Halloween week of 2015.
Coleman is the founder in 2003, and current director of the International Cryptozoology Museum in Portland, Maine.
How cool, but there’s so much stuff out in the bush, they’ve only scraped the surface.
woohoo 🙂
“…discovered the rare blue-fronted fig parrot…”
If they just found it, how do they know it’s rare?
I’m from the Sunshine Coast area of Queensland and to think there is a parrot flying around that has only just been discovered as a new species in 2006, even if it is “only” a new sub species, is remarkable! 😀
It’s always refreshing to hear news of the discovery of a new species of any kind of creature as opposed to disheartening news of those that are disappearing.
Great news! Would like to see a picture.
Well MattBille, wouldn’t the fact that they just discovered it automatically make it rare?
Tip of the iceburg…and ALWAYS good news…
uh…it wasn’t wearing a glove was it?
Most Excellent!
Now if we could only find a remnant Carrier Pigeon population or nail down a definite video of an Ivorybill.