Night Parrot (Pezoporus occidentalis) ©WikiC by ornithologist Steve Murphy
“Then saith Jesus unto them, All ye shall be offended because of me this night: for it is written, I will smite the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock shall be scattered abroad. But after I am risen again, I will go before you into Galilee. Peter answered and said unto him, Though all men shall be offended because of thee, yet will I never be offended. Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, That this night, before the cock crow, thou shalt deny me thrice.” (Matthew 26:31-34 KJV)
Avian and Attributes – Night
NIGHT, n. [The sense may be dark, black, or it may be the decline of the day, from declining, departing.]
1. That part of the natural day when the sun is beneath the horizon, or the time from sunset to sunrise.
2. The time after the close of life; death. John 9.
She closed her eyes in everlasting night.
3. A state of ignorance; intellectual and moral darkness; heathenish ignorance. Rom 13.
4. Adversity; a state of affliction and distress. Isa 21.
5. Obscurity; a state of concealment from the eye or the mind; unintelligibleness.
Nature and natures works lay hid in night.
In the night, suddenly; unexpectedly. Luke 12.
To-night, in this night. To-night the moon will be eclipsed.
Night Parrot (Pezoporus occidentalis) Drawing WikiC
Night Parrot (Pezoporus occidentalis) is a small parrot endemic to the continent of Australia. It is well known as being one of the most elusive and mysterious birds in the world, with no confirmed sightings of the bird between 1912 and 1979, leading to speculation that it was extinct. Sightings since 1979 have been extremely rare and the bird’s population size is unknown, though based on the paucity of records it is thought to number between 50 and 249 mature individuals. The first photographic and video evidence of a live individual was publicly confirmed in July 2013.
A relatively small and short-tailed parrot, the species’ colour is predominantly a yellowish green, mottled with dark brown, blacks and yellows. Both sexes have this coloration. It is distinguished from the two superficially similar ground parrot species by its shorter tail and different range and habitat. Predominantly terrestrial, taking to the air only when panicked or in search of water, the night parrot has furtive, nocturnal habits and—even when it was abundant—was apparently a highly secretive species. Its natural habitat appears to be the spinifex grass which still dominates much of the dry, dusty Australian interior; other early reports also indicate that it never strayed far from water. It may also inhabit chenopod shrublands, eucalyptus woodlands, and mallee shrublands. One of the vocalisations of the night parrot has been described as a croak and identified as a contact call. Other calls, mostly short ‘ding-ding’ whistles, and a more drawn out whistle, have been recorded from Queensland and Western Australia.
- Night Parrot – Wikipedia
- Night Parrot Photo ©ABC
- Largest Known Population of Night Parrots ©
- Psittaculidae – Old World Parrots Family
Birds whose first name starts with “N”
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[Definitions from Webster’s Dictionary of American English (1828), unless noted. Bird info from Wikipedia plus.]
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