The Night Parrot
One of the world's most elusive birds, unseen alive for decades, was finally photographed in the Queensland outback.
What was reported
The night parrot is a small, plump green parrot of Australia's arid interior, which hides in spinifex grass by day and feeds at night. After the late 1800s there were almost no confirmed records, and many thought it extinct; dead birds were found in 1990 and 2006.
In 2013 the naturalist John Young announced he had photographed and filmed a living night parrot in western Queensland, after years of searching.
Explanations offered
The bird is real and has since been found at a few other sites, including in Western Australia, though it remains critically rare and its locations are kept secret. Some of Young's later claims were questioned in 2018, but other researchers have confirmed the Queensland population.
- When
- Photographed in 2013
- Where
- Western Queensland, Australia
- Witnesses
- The naturalist John Young
- Status
- Confirmed
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