Blue-winged parrot

Blue-winged parrot
Blue-winged parrot, Tasmania
Conservation status

Least Concern  (IUCN 3.1)[1]
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Psittaciformes
Superfamily: Psittacoidea
Family: Psittaculidae
Subfamily: Psittaculinae
Tribe: Pezoporini
Genus: Neophema
Species: N. chrysostoma
Binomial name
Neophema chrysostoma
(Kuhl, 1820)

The blue-winged parrot (Neophema chrysostoma) also known as the blue-banded parakeet or blue-banded grass-parakeet, is a small parrot (20 cm) found in Tasmania and southeast mainland Australia. It is mainly olive green with a blue frontal band reaching from forehead to eye, blue wing coverts, black primaries, and a yellow belly. The top of its tail is bluish-grey, the sides and undertail are yellow.

The parrot is sexually dimorphic – the females are duller and have more green on the wings. It is found in savannah woodland, grasslands, orchards, farmlands, marshes, heath, dunes, and other open habitats up to 1,200 m (3,937 ft) above sea level. Many migrate between Tasmania, where they breed in spring and summer, and the mainland, where they winter. They often feed on the ground, eating seeds, blossoms, fruit and insects. Flock size ranges from pairs in breeding season to up to 2,000 birds just before autumn migration.

References

  1. ↑ BirdLife International (2012). "Neophema chrysostoma". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2013.2. International Union for Conservation of Nature. Retrieved 26 November 2013.

External links