The Ghost of the Grasslands

Ambling and weaving through the shrivelled thickets,

Its yellowish green and mottled black feathers flash fluorescent in the moonbeams.

‘Dee-de-dee-de,’ its hollow whistles echo through the still night and its placid movement produces gentle crunches and patters,

The inconspicuous tracks it leaves in the grainy sand may prove its presence.

It greets the passing-by lizard and pinches the seeds of a Spinifex bush.

One night its beady, black eyes gazed upon unusual and unfamiliar creatures.

‘Then the pointy foxes showed me no mercy and the rabbits left me with no food to eat.’

Until the moonbeams were no longer spotlighting its movement,

Until the hollow whistling and crunching and pattering ceased,

Until the footprints were blown away and the Spinifex seeds were left waiting.

When the earth rotates and day comes, it is nowhere to be seen,

Lost forever.

For man cannot catch sight of the elusive and mysterious Night Parrot.

But then years have passed, the earth rotates once again and night comes,

The moonbeams emerge and it is seen,

Found again.

The Ghost of the grasslands returns from extinction.

‘We hope when the earth rotates again, mistakes made by man have been undone,

Otherwise this time, we may disappear for all eternity.’