A hidden past. The chase begins. In the world of high society, Bernadette Bodelle, a tenacious Monuments Woman, unravels layers of historical art crimes. Her life becomes irrevocably intertwined with the mysterious death of Solange Lanquetin, A French-Australian designer with secrets tied to the Nazi art plunder. As Bernadette digs deeper, she, along with a cast of powerful influencers, are drawn into a perilous quest for lost cultural treasures. Amidst the glittering facade of the social elite, the elusive Australian Night Parrot whispers of hidden truths. Every revelation beings Bernadette closer to the brink of a dangerous disclosure. If she pushes further, what long-buried secrets will emerge? "Call of the Night Parrot" is the first book in Janelle Victor's mystery series. If you love art, intrigue, and high-stakes mystery, then you'll love Janelle Victor's thrilling exploration of heritage and deception.

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.

In 1838, John Gould, the 'father of Australian ornithology' visited Australia with the intention of gathering material for his great work on Australian birds. In the resulting publication, The Birds of Australia: In Seven Volumes (1848), and the accompanying Supplement (1869), Gould named, for the first time, no fewer than 32 Australian bird species. Gould's words about the Norfolk Island Kaka were prophetic-the last bird of its kind died in a cage in London in 1851. Since then, a number of other species illustrated in The Birds of Australia have become extinct and others are now facing extinction. John Gould's Extinct and Endangered Birds of Australia features 59 plates of birds from Gould's eight-volume work, birds that today are threatened or that no longer exist. Featuring exquisite full-colour lithographs reproduced from the National Library of Australia's copy of The Birds of Australia, this book gives an insight into the history of each bird's European discovery, as well as its subsequent fortunes or misfortunes.

You have probably seen Rex Ellis on TV. He is constantly turning up on the box with his team of camels and his adventurous urban guests hanging on for dear life somewhere in the sandy wastes of the Red Heart, maybe near Birdsville. Or traversing Lake Eyre full of water and pelicans in his beloved tinny. Rex lives a nomadic, desert life out there that you and I can only dream about. For a desert wanderer he is pretty talkative and has a mad sense of humour, but when he does do his block with a recalcitrant safari guest or a stubborn camel, he gets volcanic. Ellis has the knack of extracting the ridiculous or the absurd essence wherever he travels. He is an observer of the human condition, and focuses by inclination on the farcical. Perhaps his lifetime of observing outback wildlife gives him an excellent basis for a comparative study of crazy human behaviour. He has always taken paying guests on his outback adventures, and his colourful and varied descriptions of their shenanigans will bring great satisfaction to the superior armchair adventurer. And of course every evening there is the campfire. Ellis sees the campfire as the quintessence of the freedom of the outback, the relaxation after a hard day’s yakka, the yarn spinning, the chai-yacking and the camaraderie that develops so easily while you all stare at the mysterious, inspiring flames rather than at a mind-deadening TV set. This is the very essence of outback travelling, and Ellis’s highly emotional introduction leaves no doubt about the way he feels about these magic evenings. So, folks, it’s still not too late! If you can’t get out there straightaway, then read the book. Ten Thousand Campfires leaves no doubt that there is still plenty of the real, old-fashioned Australia in the Red Heart and it is pretty easy to distinguish it from what the author refers to as the ‘sanitized’ metropolitan Australia.

The Parrot’s Perch opens in 2013, when Karen Keilt, age sixty, receives an invitation to testify at the Brazilian National Truth Commission at the UN in New York. The email sparks memories of her “previous life”—the one she has kept safely bottled up for more than thirty-seven years. Hopeful of helping to raise awareness about ongoing human rights violations in Brazil, she wants to testify, but she anguishes over reliving the horrific events of her youth. In the pages that follow, Keilt tells the story of her life in Brazil—from her exclusive, upper-class lifestyle and dreams of Olympic medals to her turmoil-filled youth. Full of hints of a dark oligarchy in Brazil, corruption, crime, and military interference, The Parrot’s Perch is a searing, sometimes shocking true tale of suffering, struggle—and survival. Karen Keilt lived through the darkest days of Brazil’s military dictatorship. In her courageous and compelling memoir, Keilt narrates an emotionally honest reckoning of her desire to find true happiness. Forbidden by her wealthy family to even mention her imprisonment, torture, and rape, Keilt is forced to make a change that will affect the rest of her life. Seen through her testimony to the Brazilian National Truth Commission at the UN, readers become witnesses to both her vulnerability and her quiet strength.

Lists all those species of birds that have been recorded from the Australian mainland, Tasmania, island territories and surrounding waters. Based on theauthors' original book The Taxonomy and Species of Birds of Australia and its Territories, it includes any new species for which records have been accepted by the Records Appraisal Committee of Birds Australia. It also includes all extant and recently extinct (post-1800) native species, as well as new species, accepted vagrants and introduced species that have become established and continue to survive in the wild.

2011 Sibert Medal Winner On remote Codfish Island off the southern coast of New Zealand live the last ninety-one kakapo parrots on earth. These trusting, flightless, and beautiful birds—the largest and most unusual parrots on earth—have suffered devastating population loss. Now, on an island refuge with the last of the species, New Zealand’s National Kakapo Recovery Team is working to restore the kakapo population. With the help of fourteen humans who share a single hut and a passion for saving these odd ground-dwelling birds, the kakapo are making a comeback in New Zealand. Follow intrepid animal lovers Sy Montgomery and Nic Bishop on a ten-day excursion to witness the exciting events in the life of the kakapo.