Night Parrot

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Night Parrot

Scientific classification

Kingdom:	Animal
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Aves
Order:	Psittaciformes
Family:	Psittacidae
Subfamily:	Psittacinae
Tribe:	Platycercini
Genus:	Pezoporus
Species:	P. occidentalis

Binomial name

Pezoporus occidentalis
(Gould, 1861)

Synonyms

Geopsittacus occidentalis

The Night Parrot (Pezoporus occidentalis) is (or was, depending on opinion) a small broad-tailed parrot endemic to the continent of Australia. The species was originally placed within its own genus (Geopsittacus) (e.g. Forshaw & Cooper, 1989^{[verification needed]}, also Gould, 1865), but most authors now prefer to place it within the genus Pezoporus following Leeton et al. (1998), together with the Ground Parrot. The well-known budgerigar is a not-too-distant relative (Christidis et al., 1991) of these birds.

1 Description
2 Conservation status
3 References
4 External links

[edit] Description

A relatively small parrot, the species' colour is predominantly a yellowish green, mottled with dark brown, blacks and yellows. It was distinguished from the superficially similar Ground Parrot 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 had furtive, nocturnal habits and—even when abundant—was apparently a highly secretive species. Its natural habitat appeared 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.

[edit] Conservation status

The population size of this species is currently a matter of debate. Estimates range from extinct to not threatened at all. It is, however, currently listed on the IUCN Red List as Critically Endangered. Indeed, there have been only a few reliable records of the bird since the 1880s, with the last authenticated report dating from 2006, when rangers found a dead night parrot which had flown into a barbed wire fence in the Diamantina National Park in south western Queensland. Prior to this, the last reliable sightings were in 1990 when a roadkill specimen was discovered by scientists returning from an expedition in a remote part of Queensland and 1979 when a team of scientists from the South Australian Museum spotted an apparent flock of the birds in the far north of South Australia. Ornithologists continue to patrol the outback for signs that the species still thrives, even checking the old nests of other birds, such as the Zebra Finch, for fragments of night parrot feathers.

The night parrot remains one of the most elusive and mysterious birds in the world of ornithology.

[edit] References

BirdLife International (2004). Pezoporus occidentalis. 2006 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. IUCN 2006. Retrieved on 25 September 2006. Database entry includes justification for why this species is critically endangered.

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 HTML abstract

Christidis, Leslie; Schodde, R.; Shaw, D. D. & Maynes, S. F. (1991): Relationships among the Australo-Papuan Parrots, Lorikeets, and Cockatoos (Aves, Psittaciformes): Protein Evidence. Condor 93(2): 302-317. PDF fulltext

Forshaw, Joseph M. & Cooper, William T. (1981): Parrots of the World (3rd ed). Press, Willoughby, Australia.

Leeton, Peter R. J., Christidis, Leslie, Westerman, Michael & Boles, Walter E. (1994): Molecular phylogenetic relationships of the Night Parrot (Geopsittacus occidentalis) and the Ground Parrot (Pezoporus wallicus). Auk 111(4): 833-843 PDF fulltext