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Night Parrots are relatively small, rather plump and short-tailed parrots with a highly cryptic plumage. The back (upperparts) is greenish with dark-grey scalloping. The front (underparts) is more yellowish, with some dark-grey barring. The outer edges of the uppertail are also more yellowish than the rest of the tail. The flight feathers are dark-grey with light edge-lining. The sides of the head are greenish without any scalloping. The eyes, which have dark irises, are surrounded by grey eye-rings. The cere is dark-grey.

Twitcher's tip

Compared to Ground Parrots, Night Parrots have a more yellowish appearance and a much shorter tail.

The range and distribution of Night Parrots is uncertain. Night Parrots are endemic to Australia. Although it is suspected that they may exist in a near-rectangular area spanning about 2500 km (E-W) x 1500 km (N-S), encompassing the entire interior of the Australian continent from the eastern inland half of WA to far-western QLD and from the southern edge of the Kimberley in WA to the northern edge of the Nullarbor, there are only two currently confirmed sub-populations. One such population exists in the Murchison/Pilbara region of WA and the other in the Channel country of western QLD. It is unclear whether Night Parrots exist anywhere in between these two areas and hence also whether the two sub-populations may still be connected. With an estimated total population of 50-250 individuals, the average population density of Night Parrots is probably extremely low.

Night Parrots live in inland plains, primarily with Triodia ("Spinifex") grass and in samphire around salt lakes.

After recent visual sightings in WA in 2004 and 2005, the first Night Parrot sighting with photo and video evidence was reported by J. Young from western QLD in July 2013. The site of this sighting was subsequently converted into a nature reserve for the conservation of the Night Parrot. The sighting information and photo presented on this page originate from that nature reserve, which is now called the Pullen Pullen Nature Reserve , after the local Aboriginal name for the species.

The sighting and photographic information from 2015 has been kindly contributed by Dr. S. Murphy and is reproduced here with his permission. More detailed information can be found on the website of Bush Heritage Australia.

All requests for information or reproduction of the photo of a Night Parrot shown here should be directed to Bush Heritage Australia.

In the 2016 breeding season a small number of nests were found in Diamantina NP, QLD. One such nest is shown in the photo below, obtained by J. Young/Australian Wildlife Conservancy in October 2016.

The nesting and photographic information from 2016 has been kindly contributed by J. Young and Dr. P. Tucak, Australian Wildlife Conservancy, and is reproduced here with their kind permission.

All requests for information or reproduction of the photo of a Night Parrot nest shown here should be directed to Australian Wildlife Conservancy.