John Young (naturalist)

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John Young is an Australian naturalist and cinematographer.

Contents

Early life

John Young grew up on a farm for cattle and sheep in New South Wales. As a boy, he began egg-collecting with his brothers as a hobby. While in his twenties, Young held several jobs, including as an electrician, truck driver, and a fencer. [1]

Career

In the 1990s, Young created John Young Wildlife Enterprises. The company ran birding tours and also produced wildlife films with the aim of documenting rare species of birds. [1]

Blue-fronted fig parrot controversy

In 2006, Young claimed to have photographed a putative new species or subspecies of fig parrot in southern Queensland, calling it the blue-fronted or blue-browed fig parrot. [1] [2] The photograph, depicting a bird similar to the red-browed fig parrot (Cyclopsitta diophthalma macleayana) with a blue forehead, was published in Brisbane-based newspaper The Courier-Mail . [2] Lindy Nelson-Carr, the then Queensland Minister for Environment, announced the discovery on 7 November 2006 during an event held at Lamington National Park, stating that Young had known of the existence of the parrot for a decade and that the Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service would work with Young to further document the parrot. [3] The authenticity of the photograph was called into doubt by a forensic photography expert from RMIT University, who noticed details indicating that the image may have been altered to change the colour of the bird's brow from red to blue. [1] [2] The forensic photography expert could not conclusively determine the authenticity of the photograph without examining the original images, which Young claimed to have deleted. [1] Some ornithologists posited that the image actually depicted double-eyed fig parrot whose brow colour had been altered. [4] Young maintained that he did not alter the bird's colours, stating that he only lightened or darkened parts of the images. [1] Writing on his website in February 2007, Young stated that a "body of evidence, including photographs of multiple birds, recordings and biological material together with a nest site" were forthcoming, however, no further evidence was produced, [1] [4] and the Queensland Government withdrew support for Young's claim. [2]

Night parrot controversy

In 2013, Young reported that he had sighted and photographed the night parrot, an endangered Australian bird. [5] Live night parrots had not been definitively documented since 1912, though two dead ones were found in 1991 and 2006. However, the appearance of mesh in one of Young's photos raised questions as to how he was able to get pictures and videos of such a secretive bird. Young denied that he captured the individual, which would have been illegal. [1]

In 2016, Young was hired as a senior biologist for the Australian Wildlife Conservancy (AWC). He resigned from his position in September 2018. [5]

In 2019, the Australian Wildlife Conservancy published a report determining that some of Young's supposed observations were not credible. They determined that night parrot calls recorded by Young at Kalamurina Sanctuary were the result of playing publicly available call files near the detector rather than calls from an actual bird. [6] Experts determined that an alleged night parrot nest photographed by Young contained fake eggs made of plaster or clay. [5]

As a result of their report, the AWC also retracted Young's findings related to the buff-breasted buttonquail, another endangered Australian bird. [6]

Documentaries

Related Research Articles

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The blue-browed fig parrot, also referred to as the blue-fronted fig parrot, is a putative undescribed fig parrot said to inhabit the rugged rainforest-covered border ranges of subtropical south-eastern Queensland and north-eastern New South Wales, Australia. It was announced in November 2006 as the discovery of a new species or subspecies. However, the existence of the parrot has not been confirmed and the claimed discovery has been questioned.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Marshall's fig parrot</span> Subspecies of bird

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References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Borrell, Brendan (2018). "A Naturalist With a Checkered Past Rediscovered a Long-lost Parrot . . . Then Things Got Interesting". Audubon . Archived from the original on 6 April 2019. Retrieved 6 April 2019.
  2. 1 2 3 4 Roberts, Greg (13 February 2007). "Expert on fake photos queries parrot species claim". The Australian . Retrieved 25 January 2025– via ProQuest.
  3. ↑ Nelson-Carr, Lindy (7 November 2006). "Persistent Search Nets New Parrot" (Press release). Queensland Government . Retrieved 25 January 2025.
  4. 1 2 Roberts, Greg (10 February 2024). "Fate of these special Australian birds hangs the in balance amid 17-year mystery" . The Australian . Archived from the original on 13 February 2024. Retrieved 25 January 2025.
  5. 1 2 3 Borrell, Brendan (4 April 2019). "John Young Rediscovered the Australian Night Parrot, but Did He Lie About His Later Findings?". Audubon . Archived from the original on 6 April 2019. Retrieved 6 April 2019.
  6. 1 2 "AWC receives findings from independent Night Parrot review panel". Australian Wildlife Conservancy . 29 March 2019. Archived from the original on 6 April 2019. Retrieved 6 April 2019.
  7. ↑ "Ghosts of the Forest (2001)". Screen Australia. Archived from the original on 7 April 2019. Retrieved 6 April 2019.
  8. ↑ The Kingfishers. OCLC   224444480 . Retrieved 6 April 2019– via WorldCat.
  9. ↑ John Young and the search for the red goshawk. OCLC   681911529 . Retrieved 6 April 2019– via WorldCat.
  10. ↑ "Kingdom of the Jabiru". Screen Australia. Archived from the original on 7 April 2019. Retrieved 6 April 2019.
  11. ↑ Rainforest: a musical journey through an Australian rainforest. OCLC   224301240 . Retrieved 6 April 2019– via WorldCat.
  12. ↑ Owls. OCLC   681911525 . Retrieved 6 April 2019– via WorldCat.
  13. ↑ Birds of prey / Volume 1. OCLC   224139152 . Retrieved 6 April 2019– via WorldCat.
  14. ↑ Birds of prey. Part 2. OCLC   913310526 . Retrieved 6 April 2019– via WorldCat.
  15. ↑ Shadows in the desert: unearthing the secrets of the desert. OCLC   457146786 . Retrieved 6 April 2019– via WorldCat.
  16. ↑ Wings of silence. OCLC   225397877 . Retrieved 6 April 2019– via WorldCat.
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