This Rare Bird Went Extinct Over 100 Years Ago — Or Did It?

The night parrot (Pezoporus occidentalis) is one of the most elusive bird species in Australia, if not the entire world. It's so rare, in fact, that it was long believed to be extinct. These modestly sized birds, which range from about 8 to 10 inches in length with wingspans up to 18 inches, have a mottled coloring of green, yellow, and black in keeping with the eye-catching colors that parrots are famous for. However, even the most astute of birdwatchers would have a hard time getting their eyes on one, and for decades, scientists thought no one would even have the chance.

Usually when talking about nocturnal birds, owls and nightjars spring to mind, but the night parrot doesn't only share these birds' fondness for the dark; it is actually even more elusive. Despite being capable of flight, night parrots hardly ever take to the air. They prefer to spend almost all of their time on the ground, hidden in thick clumps of spinifex grasses, the seeds of which serve as the birds' main food source. Night parrots will sometimes fly between grassy areas for food, particularly at dawn or dusk, but most of the time, they stay hidden.

Nonetheless, the night parrot was identified in 1845, and over the second half of the 19th century, more than 20 specimens were found. However, their population seemed to vanish after the turn of the century. One specimen was found in 1912, but then nothing for decades. Many scientists wrote the night parrot off as extinct, and it would take a full century to put those fears to rest.

After 1912, the night parrot seemed to vanish from the face of the earth, but sometimes animals fool us into thinking they are extinct when they are really just too elusive for us to find. Throughout the latter half of the 1900s, there were periodic unconfirmed sightings of night parrots, including by a group from the South Australia Museum, who found several of the birds in a remote part of South Australia. However, the only specimen that researchers could actually get their hands on was a dead night parrot found mummified by the side of the road in 1990.

The groundbreaking moment for the night parrot came in 2013, when an ornithologist captured a few blurry photos from the Queensland outback. Researchers returned to the area, and they were able to tag a tracker to a night parrot. Following this, the region where the birds were found was turned into a wildlife refuge — Pullen Pullen Reserve — which covers over 200 square miles, although the exact area in which the rare birds were found is kept a closely guarded secret.

While it is certainly great news that night parrots are still with us, they are still a species on the brink of extinction. Given how difficult they've been to observe, identifying the threats they face and taking measures to preserve the species are proving challenging. However, a recent groundbreaking study shed light on the night parrot's plight, as well as the reasons we should hope for its future.

Beginning in 2020, a cooperative of scientists from the University of Queensland and Indigenous rangers set up more than 30 audio recording posts around the Ngururrpa Indigenous Protected Area, hoping to capture the night parrot's distinctive call. They then set up cameras at all of the sites where calls were recorded. What they ultimately discovered was a stable population of roughly 50 night parrots, as detailed in a study published in Wildlife Research.

After recording night parrots over three years, researchers identified the biggest threats facing the species. Wildfires are chief among these, as they destroy the spinifex grasses that night parrots use for both food and housing. The birds roost only in tight clumps of the grasses, where the spinifex tangles up to form a shady dome. It takes years for the grass to grow that much, so when wildfires wipe out large tracts of grassland, the area becomes uninhabitable for the night parrot.

Predators are another threat, and when the surveillance equipment used to track night parrots picked up images of dingoes, it would seem a culprit had been found. However, in an analysis of dingo feces, dingoes don't actually eat night parrots. They prefer wild cats, which are actually the biggest predatory threat to night parrots. Keeping the populations of dingoes and feral cats balanced will therefore be key to conservation. This work provides some hope for the future of the night parrot, although for now, they remain an animal species at risk of extinction.