From: John Harris [
Sent: Thursday, 23 March 2017 2:07 PM
To:
Subject: Re: [canberrabirds] ABC News: Night parrot sighting in WA shocks birdwatching world
Thanks Alan. This is heartening news indeed but hardly something to ‘shock’ us! Excite us, yes, but after all the Night parrot was described first from a Western Australian specimen – hence its name
occidentalis. Their habitat spans the vast spinifex plains especially where there is
Triodia grass - ie Western Queensland, the Northern Territory, Western Australia and the north of South Australia. I would not be shocked if they were discovered in Western NSW, very excited but not shocked!
I described my sighting of them in the 1960s north of the the Barkly Tableland (NT) on this chatline two years ago. You can, I think, find it under night parrot or 13 Feb 2014. The Aboriginal men I was with called
them Mirrlambing with a hard ‘b’ - (Mirr-lam-bing). Mirr means to call out so the name means something like night calling bird. This name or a similar name can be found in the older bird literature which used to record Aboriginal names.
From: Alan Ford <>
Date: Thursday, 23 March 2017 at 12:29 PM
To: chatline <>
Subject: [canberrabirds] ABC News: Night parrot sighting in WA shocks birdwatching world
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