The holy grail of ornithology in Australia has finally been found and photographed, according to Queensland naturalist John Young.

The night parrot is Australia's most sought-after bird and is listed by the Smithsonian as one of the world's five most elusive birds.

Mr Young, took photos and video of the bird in May and his images are being unveiled, along with feathers from a nest, to an eager audience of twichers, researchers and scientists in Brisbane at the Queensland Museum today.

Mr Young says he's travelled 11-thousand kilometres on a bike, 320-thousand kilometres in a vehicle and spent 17-thousand hours in the field over fifteen years searching for the night parrot.

He won't be specific about the area where he discovered the bird, other than to say it is in the Lake Eyre Basin

He says spotting the bird will always be a treasured moment.

"To sit there and watch this holy grail come out, like some sort of mythical ghost...it puffed itself up in some sort of alien shape, almost doubling its size, shaped like an echidna, raking it's head on the ground...it was electrifying."

My Young says when he returned to the area a few days later he could hear young ones in the nest.

There are believed to be fewer than 250 left in Australia's inland.

"The site is going to be protected. I want to look after this thing at all costs," he says

"I want to learn how to protect it, find out what it feeds on, the biology of it.

"I now know the bird is totally nocturnal, nothing happens until well after dark and it ceases long before daylight. The calling is incredibly irregular."

But while his instincts are to keep the exact site under wraps, that's not the long term plan.

There is do doubt, down the track we are going to share it with the world"

His biggest fear, apart from a horde of curious and committed birdwatchers arriving in the area, is the feral cat problem.

He says research, which should cost several million dollars, should take place over the next several years.

John Young, naturalist

Producer: Keiren McLeonard