Bird of the Week: Australian King-Parrot 18 December 2020
What is it about these birds that makes everyone love them? Is it their colour? That glowing velvet red, and emerald green!
Or is it their gentle behaviour? Compared to most parrots they seem elegant, classy, willing to wait their turn.
Martin Butterfield tells: “When we lived in Canberra we had a bird table outside Frances’ study window. King Parrots were frequent visitors and if she played a rhythmic tune on her tin whistle a King-Parrot would bob its head in time with the music.”
Reporting rate fairly even through year. Perhaps lower in spring-summer as they hide away for breeding and then the young birds come out in March – or possibly more groups of birders come and share lists in March?
Identifying the adult male is easy – he’s the showy fellow with all red head and breast. But picking adult females from juveniles is much more tricky.
Points to look for are:
Bill colour: dark in adult female, pale apricot-orange in juveniles
Eye (iris) colour: pale yellow in adult female, dark in juvenile
Face colour: deep rich green in adult female, green tinged olive in juvenile
Then there’s the great dilemma of the ‘shoulder stripe’: that glowing turquoise band across the folded wing. Males are supposed to have the strongest, most obvious shoulder stripe, females have a smaller version, and juveniles barely have it at all. But I’ve seen full adult males with a reduced stripe, adult females with a huge one and everything in between. Possibly it becomes stronger with age? Or could the feathers simply cover it at times?
Read here about how the King-Parrot got their name:
https://www.echidnawalkabout.com.au/king-parrots/
LISTEN TO THE CALLS & Scroll through to see lots of great pics here: https://ebird.org/species/aukpar1?siteLanguage=en_AU
Details: Australian King-Parrot Alisterus scapularis scapularis
Location: coastal Victoria, NSW & QLD. ther subspecies minor lives in coastal mid-north QLD.
Conservation status/learn more: https://www.birdlife.org.au/bird-profile/australian-king-parrot
Thanks to Caroline Jones, Mark Alderman, Martin Butterfield, John Hutchison, Brett Howell, Martin Maderthaner for your lovely pics and anecdotes.
Mallacoota Birds 