Night parrot sightings!

We came across this interesting posting today about the 'Holy Grail' of the bird world:

http://blogs.crikey.com.au/northern/2010/06/09/bird-of-the-week-the-night-parrot-resurfaces-again-maybe/
which details this and a few other Night parrot sightings:

I have just received a report of a Night Parrot seen Skull Springs Road in Western Australia from XXXX at 21 52 15S 120 48 29E on 2/06/2010. Notes from XXXX are as follows: “I noticed the single bird fluttering next to the car, so stopped as soon as I could. It has perched a foot off the ground in a dead bush. I got my binoculars quickly only the bird, only 6-7m away. It then fluttered forward a meter or 2 to the ground and hopped once or twice, in front of me but turning it’s face to observe me. The emerald back flecked with dark markings, short tail and very stocky build caused me to immediately dismiss Musk Lorikeet as an option (aside from the range). Largish head had a greyish/horn/black (slightly large) bill. A couple of centimeters larger than a Musk Lorikeet, it may have weighed twice as much due to it’s large body. This bird resembled nothing else I had seen, and even with only 15-20sec (Bino) view of the bird, it is like no other parrot in the West or the whole of region. About 30-40seconds after I first spotted it it, flew/fluttered off into the spinifex, ignoring the tree about 25-30m away. I searched the spinifex for 15-20minutes.”

And this: “…We were driving slowly at the time with windows down and no music playing. At 5:45pm (sunset was at 5:27pm), 3 fast-flying birds crossed our track about 5-10m in front of our car. They were roughly 1.5m above the ground. I hesitantly said “Night Parrots” and David agreed. The habitat in the direct vicinity consisted of a large mesa and rolling hills, with open Eucalyptus woodland and a spinifex ground cover. This site was the most productive in terms of bird diversity and abundance throughout the survey, most likely due to water availability. For example, a pair of Grey Falcons and 6 Ground Cuckoo-shrikes were observed at this location on May 28th. The birds in question appeared to be coming from a large eucalypt-lined watercourse at the base of the mesa, almost perfecting in line with 2 small pools of water in the creekbed. The direction they were heading was towards rolling hills dominated by spinifex, with very few trees (mainly Eucalyptus and dead shrubs).

To learn more about the Night Parrot, watch our video:



Long live the Night Parrot!