Night Parrot

1. Mottled green and black plumage with a plain yellow belly

2. Nocturnal and ground-dwelling, rarely seen in flight except when flushed

3. Distinctive “ding-ding” or bell-like call, most often heard in the first hour after sunset

Much about the Night Parrot’s biology remains unknown due to its rarity and secretive nature. They nest and roost in dense spinifex clumps, laying 2–4 eggs in shallow nests under the cover of prickly grass. Their diet consists mainly of seeds from spinifex and other arid zone plants. Night Parrots are highly vulnerable to predation by feral cats and foxes, and to habitat degradation from altered fire regimes, overgrazing, and invasive grasses like Buffel Grass. Their population is critically endangered, with best estimates ranging from fewer than 50 in some areas to possibly 200 across all known sites, though true numbers are uncertain. Conservation efforts include habitat protection, predator control, and fire management, with Aboriginal ranger teams playing a crucial role in recent discoveries and ongoing monitoring.

Night Parrots inhabit remote spinifex grasslands, chenopod shrublands, and samphire flats around dry salt pans in the arid interior of Western and Central Australia. Key populations are known from the Great Sandy Desert (Ngururrpa Indigenous Protected Area in WA) and western Queensland. They roost by day in dense mature spinifex and emerge at night to forage, sometimes traveling several kilometers from their roosts. Areas with patchy burning that create a mosaic of mature spinifex are favoured. Their presence is usually detected by their calls or, rarely, by camera traps and acoustic monitoring.