Wildlife group investigates claim night parrot photos were staged

Academic Penny Olsen suggests ecologist John Young staged discoveries related to endangered night parrot

The Australian Wildlife Conservancy is investigating claims that photos it published which point to sightings of the endangered night parrot were staged.

Former AWC ecologist John Young is credited with taking the first photograph of what has been dubbed the "world's most mysterious bird" in Queensland in 2013. Last year Young said he had found a feather from the night parrot on Kalamurina Station, around northern Lake Eyre in South Australia, describing the July discovery as significant "beyond what I could have imagined".