Sunday, August 9, 2015 at 15:05 
Steve Murphy holds the worlds only ever captured Night Parrot. Picture: Rachel Barr Somewhere beneath the spinifex, nestled amid seemingly unending gibber rock plains and red soil, lies the holy grail of bird watching.
Monday, January 6, 2014 at 15:16 
An extraordinarily rare Australian bird, has important consequences for conservation. Illustration by John Gould
The Night Parrot has surely been amongst the most enigmatic birds of the world and deservedly the ‘holy grail’ for many birders. It originally had an extremely widespread distribution across a large proportion of Australia, but, for about the last one hundred years, there were no confirmed observations of the species. From this we would have concluded that the species was probably extinct, except for the fact that recently-dead specimens have turned up occasionally, most notably in 1999 and 2006. Perhaps encouraged by these latest records, many birders have invested large amounts of time and money in pursuit of this ghost-like bird. It has, for these people, been their ‘holy grail’. We have felt similarly, tried to keep informed regarding the species, and often fantasizing about having an encounter with it.
Sunday, December 29, 2013 at 4:02 
An ex parrot: one of the few Night Parrots collected in the 1870s in South Australia. Image by: Marie Meister, Museum of Zoology, StrasbourgThe Night Parrot has been called the “world’s most mysterious bird”. First discovered in 1845, it was rarely seen alive for most of the next hundred and seventy years, but it has been rediscovered in 2013 by Queensland naturalist John Young.
Friday, August 9, 2013 at 2:29 
Night Parrot Photo: Philippa Horton, South Australian Museum Work at the Western Australian Museum’s recently acquired DNA laboratory has proved conclusively the Night Parrot – often referred to as the Holy Grail of ornithology – is not extinct.
Wednesday, July 3, 2013 at 5:10 
The mysterious night parrot. (Credit: John Gould) An ornithologist has captured the first photos and some intriguing insights into Australia’s most elusive bird.
