The Night Parrot (Pezoporus occidentalis) in northern Western Australia: a recent sighting from the Pilbara region

Abstract

The Night Parrot (Pezoporus occidentalis) is an enigmatic species thought possibly to be extinct until the recent recoveries of two dead specimens from Queensland. The type specimen and many early sightings, however, came from Western Australia. We describe a new sighting of the Night Parrot from the Pilbara region of Western Australia, on 12 April 2005, at a well near the Fortescue Marshes. We provide details of our sighting and review the behaviour observed in the context of historical and contemporary records from the north-west of Western Australia.