Overview

For well over a century, the Night Parrot lured its seekers into Australia's vast, arid outback. From the beginning it was a mystery bird. Fewer than 30 specimens were collected before it all but disappeared, offering only fleeting glimpses and the occasional mummified body as proof of its continued existence. Protected by spinifex and darkness, the parrot attained almost mythical status: a challenge to birdwatchers and an inspiration to poets, novelists and artists. Night Parrot documents the competitiveness and secrecy, the triumphs and adventures of the history of the bird and its followers, culminating in the recent discovery of live birds at a few widely scattered locations. It describes what we are now unravelling about the mysteries of its biology and ecology and what is still left to learn. Complemented by guest essays, illustrations and photographs from a wide variety of sources, this book sheds light on Australia's most elusive bird. 

Full Product Details

Author:   Penny Olsen
Publisher:   CSIRO Publishing
Imprint:   CSIRO Publishing
Dimensions:   Width: 17.00cm , Height: 2.10cm , Length: 24.50cm
Weight:   1.000kg
ISBN:  

9781486302987

ISBN 10:   148630298
Pages:   368
Publication Date:   01 September 2018
Audience:   General/trade ,  General
Format:   Paperback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   In Print  
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Table of Contents

Acknowledgements Introduction: The call of the Night Parrot A tangled nest of Night Parrot names Getting to know the family: the molecular story by Leo Joseph South Australia The very first ‘beautiful ground parrakeet’: Charles Sturt, John McDouall Stuart and John Harris Browne Myrrlumbing: Frederick Andrews Hunters of the long-lost Night Parrot: Samuel Albert White and Ethel Rosina White Sclerolaena not spinifex: Shane Parker Western Australia Spinifex Parrot: Robert Austin, Albert Calvert and George Keartland Mournful whistle: Martin Bourgoin A concerted effort: the CALM campaign The vanishing habitat of the Night Parrot in the Gascoyne and Murchison regions of Western Australia: lessons from historical records, land use and landscape processes by Peter Curry Victoria Mallee Bird: Charles McLennan New South Wales Have you ever seen a Night Parrot?: W. Kelly Northern Territory Fly-by-night: George Keartland, Lawson Whitlock & Co. A frame-up: Sidney William Jackson Queensland Bodies beside the road and a bird in the hand: Boles, Cupitt, Young & Co. ‘They say if enough are found’: Steve Murphy and John Young Not the final chapter Index

Reviews

This is an intriguing and absorbing book... Penny Olsen has made an excellent job of tying together all the threads, human, psittacine, topographical and historical into a readable, well-referenced book with some excellent but tantalising photographs. - Kent Ornithological Society Newsletter

""Night Parrot by Penny Olsen is more than a biography of a bird that spent most of the twentieth century successfully hiding from people. It is a historical biography of human determination and obsession, and of the ways in which this bird has acted as a catalyst for transitions between those two psychological states."" -- Neil Murray * Australian Book Review * ""A heady mix of yarns, science, history and even the odd short story and poem, this is a one-of-a-kind book."" -- Robert A Davis * Austral Ecology *

Author Information

Penny Olsen AM is an Honorary Professor in the Division of Ecology and Evolution, Research School of Biology, The Australian National University. During her career as a research scientist she increasingly turned her hand to writing about Australian wildlife, its history, researchers and illustrators. She is the author of nearly 30 books and 120 research papers.

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