The night parrot (Pezoporus occidentalis) is a small parrotendemic to the continent of Australia. It has also been known as porcupine parrot, nocturnal ground parakeet, midnight cockatoo, solitaire, spinifex parrot and night parakeet. It is one of the most elusive and mysterious birds in the world, with no confirmed sightings of the bird between 1912 and 1979, leading to speculation that it was extinct. Sightings since 1979 have been extremely rare and the bird's population size is unknown, though based on the paucity of records it is thought to number between 50 and 249 mature individuals, and it is classified by the IUCN as a critically endangered species.
Ornithologist John Gould described the night parrot in 1861,[3] from a specimen—the holotype—that was collected 13 km southeast of Mt Farmer, west of Lake Austin in Western Australia. Its specific epithet is Latinoccidentalis "western". The species was originally placed within its own genus (Geopsittacus) by Gould,[4][5] though consensus soon swung in favour of placing it in Pezoporus; James Murie dissected a specimen, observing that it was very similar in anatomy and plumage to the ground parrot.[6] Gould had posited a relationship to the kākāpō based on similarity of the plumage,[3] however Murie concluded they were markedly different anatomically.[6] Despite its close relationship with the ground parrot, its placement in the genus Pezoporus was uncertain, with some authorities leaving it in its own genus, as data on the night parrot was so limited. A 1994 molecular study using the cytochrome b of several parrot species confirmed the close relationship of the taxa and consensus for its placement in Pezoporus. It also revealed that the kākāpō was not closely related to Pezoporus.[7] Analysis of mitochondrial and nuclear DNA sequences in a 2011 study showed that the night parrot most likely diverged from the ancestor of the eastern and western ground parrots around 3.3 million years ago.[8]
Alternative common names include porcupine parrot, nocturnal ground parakeet, midnight cockatoo, solitaire,[9] spinifex parrot and night parakeet.[10]
Description
A relatively small and short-tailed parrot, the species' colour is predominantly a yellowish green, mottled with dark brown, blacks and yellows. Both sexes have this coloration. It is distinguished from the two superficially similar ground parrot species by its shorter tail and different range and habitat. Predominantly terrestrial, taking to the air only when panicked or in search of water, the night parrot has furtive, nocturnal habits and—even when it was abundant—was apparently a highly secretive species. Its natural habitat appears to be the spinifex grass which still dominates much of the dry, dusty Australian interior; other early reports also indicate that it never strayed far from water. It may also inhabit chenopod shrublands, eucalyptus woodlands, and mallee shrublands. One of the vocalisations of the night parrot has been described as a croak and identified as a contact call.[11] Other calls, mostly short "ding-ding" whistles, and a more drawn out whistle, have been recorded from Queensland and Western Australia.[12]
The night parrot remains one of the world's most elusive and mysterious birds. Reliable records of the bird have been few and far between, with efforts to locate the species proving fruitless after an authenticated report from 1912.[7]
Three individuals seen near Minga Well, Pilbara region of Western Australia and near the Fortescue Marshes.[16][18]
The approval of the A$2 billionCloud Break mine project through the then-Minister for the Environment, Ian Campbell, was criticised because of a number of endangered species in the area of the future mine, among them the night parrot.[19] In order to gain EPA approval, the mine had to implement a management plan to ensure that mining activities would not have a negative effect on the species survival in the area. The occurrence of the night parrot in the future mining area, at Minga Well on 12 April 2005, was discovered during a 2005 survey commissioned by FMG, which was carried out by two contract biologists, Robert Davis and Brendan Metcalf, who sighted a small group of the birds. Unconfirmed sightings of the bird had been made previously in a nearby area in 2004.[20][21]
The sighting was at dusk, and Davis and Metcalf were not able to obtain a photograph of the three birds they saw, but are confident that they spotted three night parrots. The detailed descriptions of their sighting were accepted by the Birds Australia Rarities Committee (BARC), making it the first accepted night parrot sighting in modern times. Based on this acceptance by scientific peers, a paper describing the sighting was published in the Australian ornithological journal, Emu, in 2008. The two biologists carried out further searches at Minga Well and Moojari Well the following five nights after the sighting, but were unable to see the birds again.[20] A follow-up survey of the Fortescue Marsh area in May 2005 was unsuccessful in finding any conclusive evidence of the species.[22]
Live night parrot held by ornithologist Steve Murphy
On 4 April 2015, ornithologist Steve Murphy and partner Rachel Barr captured and radio tagged a live individual, whom they nicknamed "Pedro", in southwestern Queensland. Photographs of the bird in Murphy's hand were released to Australian media on 10 August 2015, while keeping the precise location secret.[26][27] A conservation reserve covering some 56,000 hectares has been created in the area to protect the species.[28]
Sean Dooley of Birdlife: The Magazine described the find as, "The bird watching equivalent of finding Elvis flipping burgers in an outback roadhouse".[29]South Australian Museum collection manager Philippa Horton called the find, "One of the holy grails, one of the world's rarest species probably".[28]
August 2021: The Martu Rangers capture the fourth confirmed photograph of the parrot in flight in a remote region of Western Australia.[38]
2013, 2016, 2017: Retracted records
In May 2013 naturalist and wildlife cinematographer John Young, who made headlines in 2006 with an allegedly fake photo series of the blue-browed fig parrot, claimed to have made the first ever photographs and video footage of a living specimen.[29][39][40] Young said that he had captured the images and 17-second video after seventeen thousand hours in the field over 15 years of searching.[41] He revealed his results during an invitation-only press conference on 3 July 2013,[42][43] but kept the exact range in Queensland where he had observed this individual secret to protect this species from poaching. Young provided five feathers from a roost site in the Lake Eyre basin to the Western Australian Museum's Molecular Systematics Unit, where DNA analysis conclusively matched the feathers to DNA samples of dead Pezoporus occidentalis birds.[44][45]
2016: Young announces he has found night parrots in Diamantina National Park, adjacent to the Pullen Pullen nature reserve. Seven sightings are recorded, including a pair and three active nests with eggs.[46][47]
September 2016: Camera trap records what appears to be a night parrot on property owned by the AWC, Kalamurina Station in the northern Lake Eyre region, SA, but the photo is not clear.[48]
July 2017: Single night parrot feather found in a finch nest on the Kalamurina property, by John Young and Keith Bellchambers from the Australian Wildlife Conservancy.[48]
September 2018: Recording of a night parrot call, downloaded from an acoustic monitor at Kalamurina.[49]
In October 2018, Australian Wildlife Conservancy (AWC) commenced an investigation into claims that some of John Young's first photographs of the night parrot may have been staged, after Australian National University ornithologist Penelope Olsen, author of Night Parrot: Australia's Most Elusive Bird raised concerns. Young resigned from the AWC in September 2018,[50] and the AWC removed all information about the night parrot from its website.[51]
In March 2019, Young's reports were found to have issues relating to robustness of much of his work done in Queensland and South Australia, labelled as unscientific, deceptive and damaging to the AWC. In 2019, the AWC retracted its reports based on work done by Young.[41] A panel of experts had looked at the nest and eggs found at Diamantina (2016); the feather found at Kalamurina (2017); and the recording of the call (2018). They found that each one had separate issues and none could be said to provide robust evidence of the parrot's presence.[49]
^Leo Joseph; Alicia Toon; Erin E. Schirtzinger; Timothy F. Wright (2011). "Molecular systematics of two enigmatic genera Psittacella and Pezoporus illuminate the ecological radiation of Australo-Papuan parrots (Aves: Psittaciformes)". Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. 59 (3): 675–684. doi:10.1016/j.ympev.2011.03.017. PMID21453777.
^Department of the Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts (2008). "Pezoporus occidentalis — Night Parrot". Biodiversity: Species Profile and Threats Database. Australian Government. Retrieved 10 August 2015.((cite web)): CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
^"Night Parrot". Important Bird Areas. BirdLife International. 2012. Archived from the original on 30 June 2007. Retrieved 31 October 2012.
^Boles, Walter E.; Longmore, N. W. & Thompson, M. C. (1994). "A Recent Specimen of the Night Parrot Geopsittacus occidentalis". Emu. 94 (1): 37–40. doi:10.1071/MU9940037.
^Davis, Robert A.; Brenden M. Metcalf (2008). "The Night Parrot (Pezoporus occidentalis) in northern Western Australia: a recent sighting from the Pilbara region". Emu. 108 (3): 233–236. doi:10.1071/MU07058. S2CID85412524.
^Andrew McDougall; Gary Porter; Maree Mostert; Robert Cupitt; Sue Cupitt; Leo Joseph; Stephen Murphy; Heather Janetzki; Adrian Gallagher; Allan Burbidge (2009). "Another piece in an Australian ornithological puzzle – a second Night Parrot is found dead in Queensland". Emu. 109 (3): 198–203. doi:10.1071/MU08018. S2CID84859858.
Weidensaul, S. (2002). The Ghost with Trembling Wings: Science, Wishful Thinking, and the Search for Lost Species, North Point Press (New York), ISBN0-86547-668-3, pp. 75–81.
