Night Parrot
Australia's Most Elusive Bird
1st Edition
Published on 1. September 2018
368 pages
978-1-4863-0299-4 (ISBN)
Description
For well over a century, the Night Parrot lured its seekers into Australia''s vast, arid outback. From the beginning it was a mysterious 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.
More details
Other editions
Additional editions
Book
09/2018
CSIRO Publishing
€45.00
Shipment within 3-4 weeks
Content
- Cover
- Title
- Copyright
- Contents
- Acknowledgements
- Introduction: the call of the Night Parrot
- A tangled nest of Night Parrot names
- Getting to know the family: the molecular story
- Endnotes for introductory section
- South Australia
- The very first 'beautiful ground parrakeet': Charles Sturt, John McDouall Stuart and J. Harris Browne
- Myrrlumbing: Frederick Andrews
- Hunters of the long- lost Night Parrot: Samuel Albert White and Ethel Rosina White
- Sclerolaena not spinifex: Shane Parker
- Endnotes for South Australia section
- 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 Murchisonregions of Western Australia: lessons from historical records, land use and landscape processes
- Endnotes for Western Australia section
- Victoria
- Mallee Bird: Charles McLennan
- Endnotes for Victoria section
- New South Wales
- Have you ever seen a Night Parrot? W. Kelly
- Endnotes for New South Wales section
- Northern Territory
- Fly-by-night: George Keartland, Lawson Whitlock and Co.
- A frame-up: Sidney William Jackson
- Endnotes for Northern Territory section
- Queensland
- Bodies beside the road and a bird in the hand: Boles, Cupitt, Young and Co.
- 'They say if enough are found': Steve Murphy and John Young
- Not the final chapter
- Endnotes for Queensland section
- Index
- A
- B
- C
- D
- E
- F
- G
- H
- I
- J
- K
- L
- M
- N
- O
- P
- Q
- R
- S
- T
- U
- V
- W
- Y
- Z
