Night Parrot

Detail about Night Parrot:

The Night parrot (Pezoporus occidentalis) is a small parrot endemic to the continent of Australia. It is well known as being 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. 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. And his Conservation status are Endangered Scientific name is Pezoporus occidentalis.

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. Other calls, mostly short 'ding-ding' whistles, and a more drawn out whistle, have been recorded from Queensland and Western Australia.

Taxonomy:

Ornithologist John Gould described the night parrot in 1861, 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 Latin occidentalis "western". The species was originally placed within its own genus (Geopsittacus) by Gould, 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. Gould had posited a relationship to the kakapo based on similarity of the plumage, however Murie concluded they were markedly different anatomically.

                                  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 kakapo was not closely related to Pezoporus. 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.

                                 Alternate common names include porcupine parrot, nocturnal ground parakeet, midnight cockatoo, solitaire, spinifex parrot and night parakeet.

Conservation Status:

The population size of this species is not known, but assumed to be continuing to decline. As of 2012, it is listed on the IUCN Red List as Endangered, having previously been listed as Critically Endangered. According to the IUCN Red List the night parrot has a population of 50–249 or possibly larger. It is listed as Endangered under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 by the Australian government.

                                The night parrot remains one of the most elusive and mysterious birds in the world of ornithology. 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. Ornithologists continued to patrol the outback for traces, even checking the old nests of other birds, such as the zebra finch, for fragments of night parrot feathers.

                                In 1979, ornithologist Shane Parker from the South Australian Museum spotted an apparent flock of the birds in the far north of South Australia. A roadkill specimen was discovered in 1990 by scientists returning from an expedition in a remote part of Queensland, and three individuals were seen in 2005 near Minga Well, in the Pilbara region of Western Australia.

                                Then, in 2006, rangers found a dead specimen which had flown into a barbed wire fence in the Diamantina National Park in south western Queensland.

Night Parrot Video:

Night Parrot Basic Information:

Kingdom: Animalia.

Phylum: Chordata.

Class: Aves.

Order: Psittaciformes.

Family: Psittaculidae.

Genus: Pezoporus.

Species: P. occidentails.

Binomial Name: Pezoporous occidentalis.

Conservation Status: Endangerd(Population decreasing).