A taxidermy night parrot specimen in a showcase at the WA Museum. It has vivid green and yellow feathers with brown detailing and sits on red sand in front of a bush of spinifex

 

 

Night Parrot

 

 

Published

6 February 2024

Last Updated

12 February 2024

Manyjilyjarra Name: Ngarrijirri 
Scientific Name: Pezoporus occidentalis 
Common Name: Night Parrot 
Conservation status: Critically Endangered. This means a species has an extremely high chance of dying out or becoming extinct in the future.

 

A close up on the head and shoulders of a small green night Parrot bird which is decorated with vividly coloured green and yellow feathers with brown accents. It opens its beak slightly as if it's alive and stares at the camera with a deep brown eye

Fun facts

  • The Night Parrot is a mostly ground-dwelling parrot that’s only found in Australia. For around 100 years it was feared extinct.
  • It weighs about 60gms, that’s the equivalent of a small chocolate bar and 10 paper clips!
  • Night Parrots are very difficult to monitor and remain one of Australia’s most cryptic species. Cryptic meaning hard to see, well camouflaged.
  • They are nocturnal and hide in clumps of spinifex by day and emerge after sunset to forage for food.
  • A nest is built under the very prickly and spikey Triodia spinifex with 2-4 white eggs being produced.
  • The Night Parrot was first described by ornithologist John Gould in 1861.  
     

Not So Fun Facts

The distribution and numbers of Night Parrots declined severely after European settlement.

Best estimate is that there are around 200 Night Parrots left in the wild, but we don’t really know!

Critically Endangered: Schedule 1 – Western Australian Biodiversity Conservation Act 2016. Critically Endangered – Global IUCN Red List category 
 

An intricate drawing of two Night Parrots with vivid green and yellow feathers and black detailing.

Threats to their survival

Habitat degradation from overgrazing, fire, feral cats and foxes. 

 

 

A beige coloured map of Western Australia with darker brown shading around the Mid West and Northern areas with small dots in land marking the locations of Night Parrots

 

Find me in the wild

In Western Australia the Night Parrot is found in the southern Kimberley, Pilbara and Gascoyne regions, Great Sandy and Gibson deserts and also the arid zone of eastern Australia.

 

Find me at the Museum

You can find me in the Diversity in Adversity section within the Wild Life Gallery on Level 3 of WA Museum Boola Bardip.

Read more about the Night Parrot here.

Map image: Distribution and Sightings of the Night Parrot. Night Parrot Information Sheet. WA Museum. March 2023

Keywords

Endangered WA Wild Babies