Night Parrot

Australia's Most Elusive Bird

Penny Olsen (Autor)

Buch | Softcover

368 Seiten

2018
CSIRO Publishing (Verlag)
978-1-4863-0298-7 (ISBN)

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Documents the competitiveness and secrecy, the triumphs and adventures of the history of the Night Parrot 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.

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.

FEATURES:

The story of one of the most elusive and enigmatic birds in the world; the ‘Holy Grail’ of birdwatching
Documents the impact this mysterious bird has made on our society, drawing from an eclectic range of materials including scientific articles, newspapers and ephemera, art and literature, and historical images and accounts.
Author Penny Olsen is one of Australia’s leading ornithologists.

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.

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

Erscheinungsdatum	02.10.2018
Zusatzinfo	Illustrations
Verlagsort	Melbourne
Sprache	englisch
Maße	170 x 245 mm
Themenwelt	Sachbuch/Ratgeber ► Natur / Technik ► Naturführer
Themenwelt	Naturwissenschaften ► Biologie ► Zoologie
ISBN-10	1-4863-0298-X / 148630298X
ISBN-13	978-1-4863-0298-7 / 9781486302987
Zustand	Neuware