Elusive night parrot captured on camera in Queensland

In the lonely spinifex grasslands of a sparsely populated area near the border between Western Queensland and the Northern Territory, a bird so elusive it was thought lost to science for more than a century has once again revealed itself.

But fleetingly, and only to the unblinking eye of a remote camera.

The critical find for conservationists came earlier this month after Bush Heritage Australia researchers confirmed three photographs captured on Maiawali Country at Pullen Pullen Special Wildlife Reserve had captured one of the world's rarest and most cryptic birds: the near-mythical night parrot.

The Pezoporus occidentalis is critically endangered, nocturnal, lives in arid zones and is mostly ground-dwelling.

It has been nicknamed, among others, the porcupine parrot, the solitaire p