John Young and the BBBQ

JOHN YOUNG AND THE BBBQ

Following his re-discovery of the Night Parrot, John Young was offered a
field ecologist position with Australian Wildlife Conservancy. The first
task he was given was to tackle Australia’s second least known bird, the
Buff-breasted Button-quail.

This bird’s call has never been recorded, it has never been photographed,
and only two people have found nests since 1922 – Young and the other
renowned FNQ birder Lloyd Nielsen.

Page 11 of the winter edition of AWCs magazine “Wildlife Matters” (website
below) contains an article on what happened next. Young spent time at AWC’s
Brooklyn Wildlife Sanctuary in FNQ. There he successfully recorded the
bird’s call for the first time ever, made 17 sightings (4 female, 13 male)
and discovered 6 active nests containing a total of 11 eggs. A photograph of
a nest with 4 eggs is included in the article.

The remaining challenge is a photograph. Anyone who has tried to photograph
any form of quail on the wing will understand what a challenge that is.
Young did capture one image but it is not sharp enough to print. That
pursuit continues.

AWC reports that it will continue to work on protecting strongholds for one
of Australia’s rarest birds and further reports can be expected.

This is a remarkable further achievement for Young, confirming that he
stands alone in his ability to meet our toughest birding challenges

www.australianwildlife.org/news/wildlife-matters.aspx

Mick Brasher

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