Pullen Pullen’s Night Parrot
For more than one hundred years, the place held a secret: Pullen Pullen is home to the Night Parrot, the elusive ground-dwelling parrot dubbed the “thylacine of the air”.
A nocturnal and mostly ground-dwelling parrot that’s only found in Australia. For around 100 years it was feared extinct, now we have a second chance to save it!
The Night Parrot is one of the most elusive and mysterious birds in the world. First recorded in 1845, the last living specimen was collected in Western Australia in 1912. It then disappeared, with no confirmed records of the bird between 1912 and 1979.
A trickle of fleeting but unconfirmed reports from across its former range and two dead specimens found in Queensland in 1990 and 2006 only added to the bird’s mystique.
In 2013 naturalist and wildlife photographer John Young captured several photos and a few seconds of video footage of a live bird in western Queensland.
Global interest in the discovery was so intense that the exact location of this only-known population was kept secret to protect the birds from disturbance.
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Pullen Pullen landscape. Photo Annette Ruzicka.
The Night Parrot reserve
Second chances like this don’t come along very often. Bush Heritage has stepped in and taken a leading role in ensuring we don’t lose this critically endangered bird again.
We were approached to help because of our expertise in conservation land management. We’ve now established the 56,040 hectare Pullen Pullen Reserve, to protect the rediscovered population of endangered Night Parrots. The population size has been estimated at between 10 and 20 individuals.
Night Parrot behaviour
One of the best things about the rediscovery of this species is that we’re now able to study Night Parrots in their natural habitat. Adapted to life in the outback, they seem to need little water, hiding in clumps of spinifex by day and emerging after sunset to forage for food.
Our understanding of the parrot’s biology and ecology is rapidly expanding. A number of scientific and popular science articles have already been published.
Night Parrot call
To get a sense of what it’s like listening for the bird in the wild, Reserve Ecologist Nick Leseberg has provided the audio below, recorded at 5.30am out in the spinifex of Pullen Pullen Reserve. There are some calls from other birds (such as Willie Wagtail, Spotted Nightjar and Little Buttonquail) that you’ll hear as well.
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Night parrot. Photo Nick Leseberg.
In 2020, Bush Heritage succeeded in securing Special Wildlife Reserve status for Pullen Pullen, which means the reserve, has the same level of protection as a national park. Night Parrots are not prolific breeders, usually only fledging one or two chicks each year, so increases in numbers are gradual. With Special Wildlife Reserve status, the population is given a safe place to grow steadily and further protected by a concerted feral management program.
As management of the existing population continues, Nick is turning his attention to sharing research and knowledge with land managers, fellow ecologists and, importantly, with Indigenous rangers. Since 2017, Indigenous rangers in Western Australia have reported hearing the distinctive call of the Night Parrot and some have been lucky enough to photograph the bird.
– Nick Leseberg, Reserve Ecologist“Although the whole shebang started here in western Queensland, the truth is that we have a relatively small population of Night Parrots here. But where the birds are being found in Western Australia is across a much larger area and so the future of the Night Parrot rests largely in the hands of Indigenous rangers.”
With green and gold feathers that blend with its surroundings, the Night Parrot is quintessentially Australian and the chance to save them can be seen as emblematic of something much bigger.
Australia has lost so many native plants and animals since European settlement. With the Night Parrot we have the rarest of circumstances – a second chance to save what we thought was lost forever.
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Searching for the Night Parrot. Photo Lachlan Gardiner.
You can help
Contribute to a future where Australia's extraordinary natural landscapes are protected, and unique Australian species, such as the Night Parrot, have suitable habitat.
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