Night parrot
Common name: Night parrot
Scientific name: Pezoporus occidentalis
Conservation status: The night parrot is 'Endangered' in Queensland (Nature Conservation Act 1992)and 'Endangered' nationally (Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999).
Description: The night parrot is about 24cm long and adults are mainly yellowish-green with small patches of dark brown, black and yellow with characteristic arrowhead markings on the wings. It resembles the budgerigar but is larger.
Habitat and distribution: Historic accounts and unconfirmed sightings indicate that the night parrot prefers to live on samphire plains often around intermittent lake systems and among chenopod (blue bush and salt bush) communities. It also occurs among spinifex in rocky limestone hills. There are only four recordings, all in the arid region of Australia. These recordings are from a large area of the interior of Australia, including south-western and western Queensland, southern Northern Territory, central Western Australia, northern and central South Australia, far south-western New South Wales and north-western Victoria. The last confirmed sighting was in 1990 from western Queensland.
Behaviour and life history: The night parrot is a ground dwelling bird that flies only in short bursts. It is nocturnal in its feeding and movements. By day it is thought to hide in dense saltbush or spinifex, emerging at dusk. Its diet consists of seeds of grasses and herbaceous plants and other vegetative matter.
Very little is known about the life cycle of the night parrot. It is thought breeding occurs after rain, with eggs being laid in a nest constructed amongst grass clumps on the ground. Four eggs have been recorded from one nest. Nesting frequency is probably influenced by seasonal conditions.
Threatening processes: Threats that may affect the night parrot include predation by feral animals (especially cats and foxes); alteration of habitat due to the presence of domestic stock and changed fire regimes; grazing by stock and rabbits resulting in decreased food availability and reduced availability of water as a result of over-use by feral camels; and habitat destruction and degradation .
Recovery actions:
- Continuing field searches in an effort to locate individuals.
- Alert ornithological societies and volunteer bird watchers to the current status of this species, and encourage them to report all sightings, including as much detail as possible on habitat, possible threats and behaviour.
Last updated: 31 August 2006