Chasing the ‘Ghost Bird’ of Australia’s Outback

An elusive, nocturnal parrot disappeared for more than a century. An unlikely rediscovery led to ornithological scandal — and then hope.

There had been no confirmed sightings of a live night parrot for nearly 140 years.

So when the naturalist John Young produced evidence of the near-mythic bird in a remote corner of Australia’s outback in 2013, it was one of the greatest stories of species rediscovery in recent times.

It was “the bird-watching equivalent of finding Elvis flipping burgers in an outback roadhouse,” Sean Dooley of BirdLife Australia, told the country’s national broadcaster at the time.