Australia carries more parrot diversity than almost anywhere else on Earth, and the variety goes far beyond the budgie in a backyard cage. Australian parrots range from tiny fig parrots smaller than a sparrow to the crow-sized palm cockatoo, and from flamboyant rainbow lorikeets to a ground-dwelling night parrot so rare that ornithologists spent a century unsure it still existed.
More than 330 parrot species inhabit our planet, and Australia is home to about 56 of them. Parrots belong to the order Psittaciformes, divided into roughly 350 “true” parrot species worldwide with about 40 found in Australia, plus 21 cockatoo species worldwide with 14 in Australia. This guide walks through 48 of the species that call the Australian mainland, Tasmania, or Cape York home, grouped loosely by family so the patterns in colour, behaviour, and habitat become easier to spot.
1. Budgerigar
The Budgerigar (Melopsittacus undulatus) is a small, nomadic green and yellow parrot native to arid inland Australia. Wild budgies look nothing like the pastel blues and whites bred in captivity; they stick to the same yellow-green body, blue cheek patch, and black scalloped wings their ancestors wore long before anyone thought to keep one in a cage.
First bred in captivity in the mid-1800s, the budgerigar has since become one of the world’s most widespread caged birds, with more than 5 million thought to be kept worldwide. In the wild, flocks follow rain and seeding grasses across the outback rather than settling in one spot, and budgerigars are monogamous and mate for life.
The English name “budgerigar” derives from betcherrygah, a word recorded in the 1840s from the Gamilaraay language of central NSW. Their knack for mimicry has made them a favorite entry on lists of talkative pet parrots around the world.
Pro Tip: Wild budgerigar flocks can number in the thousands after good rains. If visiting arid inland Australia, check near waterholes at dawn, when flocks come down to drink before the heat sets in.
2. Cockatiel
The cockatiel (Nymphicus hollandicus) is the smallest member of the cockatoo family, recognizable by its grey body, bright orange cheek patch, and the slim pointed crest that lifts when the bird gets excited or curious. Wild cockatiels roam the dry interior of Australia in nomadic flocks, following seeding grasses much like budgerigars do.
Males develop brighter yellow faces as they mature, while females keep more muted grey-yellow tones and retain barring under the tail. Cockatiels are known for whistling rather than speaking, and a contented bird will often hold a single note for long stretches while perched.
3. Galah
The Galah (Eolophus roseicapilla) is one of Australia’s most common and widespread cockatoos. Its soft pink chest and face, paired with grey wings and back, make it one of the easiest cockatoos to identify at a glance.
Large galah flocks gather on roadside paddocks and farmland across almost the entire continent, feeding on seeds, grain, and occasionally newly sown crops. The bird’s name has slipped into everyday Australian slang, where calling someone a “galah” is a lighthearted jab at a bit of silliness rather than an insult about their birdwatching habits.
4. Sulphur-crested Cockatoo
Few birds announce themselves as loudly as the sulphur-crested cockatoo (Cacatua galerita). Its brilliant white plumage and curved yellow crest make it instantly recognizable, and its native range spans Australia, New Guinea, and the Aru Islands in Indonesia.
These cockatoos are famously long-lived, with wild birds commonly reaching 40 to 60 years, and they are just as famous for their intelligence. Sydney’s sulphur-crested cockatoos have become known for learning to flip open household garbage bin lids, a behaviour that spread between flocks as birds watched and copied one another.
5. Little Corella
The little corella (Cacatua sanguinea) is a smaller, stockier relative of the sulphur-crested cockatoo, mostly white with a dusting of pink-red around the eyes and base of the bill. It is found across Australia and New Guinea, where it inhabits many habitats, including deserts and coastal plains.
Little corellas gather in some of the largest flocks of any Australian cockatoo, sometimes numbering in the thousands when feeding on grain crops or roosting together at dusk. Their calls carry a harsher, more grating edge than the sulphur-crested cockatoo’s scream.
6. Long-billed Corella
The long-billed corella (Cacatua tenuirostris) looks similar to its little corella cousin but carries a noticeably elongated upper mandible, an adaptation for digging bulbs, corms, and tubers out of the ground. Red patches around the throat and face add a splash of colour against the otherwise white plumage.
Native populations are concentrated in Victoria and southern New South Wales, though escaped or released birds have established feral flocks in cities such as Melbourne and Perth well outside their original range.
7. Major Mitchell’s Cockatoo
Major Mitchell’s cockatoo (Lophochroa leadbeateri) is widely considered the most striking cockatoo in Australia, with soft salmon-pink plumage and a spectacular crest banded in red, yellow, and white. Along with the galah, the gang-gang cockatoo, and the palm cockatoo, it represents one of the early-branching cockatoo lineages that split off before the large white Cacatua group evolved.
This cockatoo favours arid and semi-arid woodland across inland Australia, where it feeds mainly on the seeds of native pines and eucalypts. Habitat clearing and competition for nesting hollows have pushed its population into a gradual decline across parts of its range.
8. Gang-gang Cockatoo
The gang-gang cockatoo (Callocephalon fimbriatum) stands out for its slate-grey body and, in males, a bright red head and wispy crest that looks almost too small for the bird. Females keep a uniform grey head scalloped with pale edging across the chest feathers.
This cockatoo lives in cool, wet forests of southeastern Australia, including the mountains around Canberra and the Australian Alps. Its call has been likened to a creaking door hinge or a cork twisting out of a wine bottle, and severe habitat loss from bushfires has driven growing conservation concern for the species.
9. Palm Cockatoo
The palm cockatoo (Probosciger aterrimus) is the largest cockatoo species and one of the most unusual parrots anywhere, with jet-black plumage, a towering crest, and bare red cheek patches that flush deeper red when the bird is excited. It is confined in Australia to the rainforests of Cape York Peninsula in far north Queensland.
Male palm cockatoos are known for a rare behaviour among birds: they fashion a stick or seed pod into a drumstick and beat it against a hollow branch to produce a rhythmic sound as part of courtship, one of the few documented cases of tool-assisted percussion in the animal kingdom. The species breeds slowly, often raising only a single chick every two years, which leaves populations vulnerable to habitat disturbance.
Key Insight: The palm cockatoo’s drumming display was first documented by scientists studying Cape York populations and remains one of the only known examples of a wild bird crafting and using a percussion tool.
10. Red-tailed Black Cockatoo
The red-tailed black cockatoo (Calyptorhynchus banksii) is a large, glossy black bird best known for the bright red tail panels flashed by males in flight. Females and juveniles trade the red for mottled orange-yellow spotting across the tail and body, giving the species a striking difference between sexes.
This is the most widespread black cockatoo in Australia, with five recognised subspecies spread from the tropical north to the drier southeast. One southeastern subspecies, restricted to remnant stringybark forest along the Victoria-South Australia border, is considered endangered due to extensive habitat clearing.
| Black Cockatoo | Key Colour Marking | General Range |
|---|---|---|
| Red-tailed Black Cockatoo | Red tail panels (males) | Widespread across northern and southeastern Australia |
| Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoo | Yellow cheek and tail panels | Southeastern Australia and Tasmania |
| Glossy Black Cockatoo | Red tail bands, smallest black cockatoo | Eastern coastal forests |
| Carnaby’s Black Cockatoo | White tail panels | Southwest Western Australia only |
11. Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoo
Yellow-tailed black cockatoos are large, impressive birds found in southeastern Australia. They are easily identified by their mostly black plumage accented with yellow cheek patches and tail panels.
Small family groups move through forested valleys calling with a mournful, wailing note that carries a long way through the trees. The species feeds heavily on wood-boring grubs, prying them out of dead branches, as well as the seeds of native and introduced pines.
12. Glossy Black Cockatoo
The glossy black cockatoo (Calyptorhynchus lathami) is the smallest of Australia’s black cockatoos, with a stocky build, a relatively small bill, and red tail bands rather than yellow. It is also one of the most specialised feeders among Australian parrots.
This species depends almost entirely on the seed cones of casuarina and sheoak trees, methodically working through a cone with its bill rather than discarding it after a few bites. That narrow diet makes the glossy black cockatoo especially sensitive to the loss of mature sheoak woodland along the eastern coast, and it is currently listed as vulnerable.
13. Carnaby’s Black Cockatoo
Carnaby’s black cockatoo (Zanda latirostris) is endemic to the southwest corner of Western Australia, found nowhere else on Earth. It resembles other black cockatoos but shows white rather than yellow tail panels and a shorter, broader bill suited to cracking banksia and hakea seed pods.
Clearing of native woodland for agriculture and urban expansion around Perth has sharply reduced available nesting hollows and feeding habitat, and the species is now listed as endangered. Large, noisy flocks still gather at remaining feeding grounds, but breeding success depends heavily on protecting old-growth trees with hollows large enough for nesting.
14. Rainbow Lorikeet
The rainbow lorikeet (Trichoglossus moluccanus) is arguably the most colorful bird in Australia, combining a deep blue head, green back and wings, and an orange-yellow breast into one unmistakable package. Unlike seed-eating parrots, lorikeets have brush-tipped tongues adapted for lapping up nectar and pollen from flowering eucalypts and grevilleas.
Rainbow lorikeets are common along the entire eastern and northern coastline and have also established populations in Perth and Adelaide, outside their natural range, after escapes from aviaries. Flocks move noisily between flowering trees, and their diet means a visiting flock can strip a tree of blossom within a day. Readers curious about how this fits into broader parrot diets can see more detail on what parrots eat across different species.
15. Scaly-breasted Lorikeet
The scaly-breasted lorikeet (Trichoglossus chlorolepidotus) is often mistaken for a plainer rainbow lorikeet at first glance, but a closer look reveals yellow-edged, scale-like markings across its green chest feathers rather than the rainbow lorikeet’s solid orange breast. It lacks the blue head entirely.
This species shares much of its range with the rainbow lorikeet along coastal and near-coastal eastern Australia, and mixed flocks of the two species feeding in the same flowering tree are a common sight in Queensland and northern New South Wales.
16. Musk Lorikeet
The musk lorikeet (Glossopsitta concinna) is a smaller, mostly green lorikeet marked by a red forehead, a red patch behind the eye, and a touch of blue across the crown. It takes its common name from a musky odour some observers have noted on handled birds.
Nomadic by nature, musk lorikeets follow the flowering cycles of eucalypts across southeastern Australia, sometimes appearing in large numbers in a region for a season before moving on once the blossom fades.
17. Little Lorikeet
The little lorikeet (Glossopsitta pusilla) is the smallest lorikeet found on the Australian mainland, a compact green bird with a red face mask and a fast, direct flight pattern. Despite its size, it covers considerable distances tracking blossom across forest and woodland in southeastern Australia.
Populations have declined in parts of its range as old hollow-bearing eucalypts, essential for nesting, have been cleared from agricultural and urban landscapes. Conservation groups increasingly monitor the species as an indicator of woodland health.
18. Purple-crowned Lorikeet
The purple-crowned lorikeet (Glossopsitta porphyrocephala) packs its name’s namesake feature into a small cap of deep purple-blue atop an otherwise green body, with an orange wash across the face. It ranks among the smallest lorikeets in Australia.
This species favours mallee and dry eucalypt woodland across southern Australia, from the southwest through to western Victoria, where it feeds on nectar and pollen in loose, fast-moving flocks that are easy to hear but hard to spot among the foliage.
19. Eclectus Parrot (Cape York)
The eclectus parrot (Eclectus roratus), represented in Australia by the Cape York subspecies, shows one of the most extreme examples of sexual dimorphism in the parrot world. Males are a vivid emerald green with a red-orange bill, while females wear brilliant red and purple plumage so different that early naturalists once classified the sexes as separate species.
Females spend extended periods defending a prized nesting hollow deep in Cape York’s rainforest, sometimes rarely leaving it, while males range more widely to forage and bring food back. This striking colour contrast between sexes also explains why the eclectus frequently appears on lists of the most vocal and trainable parrots kept in aviculture.
20. Red-winged Parrot
The red-winged parrot (Aprosmictus erythropterus) is native to Australia and Papua New Guinea and typically measures about 30 to 33 centimetres in length. Both sexes display the bold red wing patches that give the species its name, though males carry a brighter, more extensive patch than females.
This parrot favours open woodland and savanna across northern and inland eastern Australia, often near watercourses lined with river red gums. Small flocks move between feeding trees with a distinctive undulating flight.
21. Australian King Parrot
The Australian king parrot (Alisterus scapularis) is endemic to eastern Australia, favouring humid and heavily forested upland regions along the eastern side of the continent. Males show a brilliant red head and underparts set against a deep green back, while females are green overall with a touch of red on the belly.
King parrots have grown comfortable around people in parts of their range, regularly visiting gardens and bird feeders in the hills around Sydney, Canberra, and southeastern Queensland. Their calm, confiding nature at feeding stations makes them one of the easier Australian parrots to observe up close.
22. Superb Parrot
The superb parrot (Polytelis swainsonii) is a slender, long-tailed parrot in bright grass-green, with males adding a yellow face and a narrow red band across the throat. It is restricted to the Riverina region of New South Wales and adjoining parts of northern Victoria.
This species depends on River Red Gum woodland along inland waterways for nesting hollows, and ongoing clearing of that habitat for agriculture has left the superb parrot listed as vulnerable. Breeding colonies often nest in loose aggregations within a small stretch of suitable riverside trees.
23. Crimson Rosella
The crimson rosella (Platycercus elegans) wears a deep crimson-red body set off by blue cheeks, wing edges, and tail, making it one of the most photographed parrots in southeastern Australian forests. Juveniles look markedly different, showing a patchwork of green and red that gradually shifts to full adult colour over about a year.
These rosellas are common visitors to gardens and picnic areas in forested parts of New South Wales, Victoria, and South Australia, often approaching closely in places where visitors regularly offer food.
| Rosella Species | Head Colour | General Range |
|---|---|---|
| Crimson Rosella | Crimson red | Southeastern Australia |
| Eastern Rosella | Red with white cheek | Southeastern Australia |
| Pale-headed Rosella | Pale yellow-white | Northeastern Australia |
| Northern Rosella | Black with yellow scalloping | Northern Australia |
| Green Rosella | Olive-green | Tasmania (endemic) |
| Western Rosella | Red (males) | Southwest Western Australia |
24. Eastern Rosella
The eastern rosella (Platycercus eximius) combines a red head and chest, white cheek patches, a yellow-green back, and blue wings into one of the most colourful and easily identified parrots in southeastern Australia. It thrives in open woodland, farmland, and suburban parks alike.
This adaptability has helped the species establish introduced populations in New Zealand, where it now breeds successfully outside its native range. In Australia, eastern rosellas commonly nest in tree hollows close to open grassy ground where they feed on fallen seed.
25. Pale-headed Rosella
The pale-headed rosella (Platycercus adscitus) replaces the red head of its southern relatives with a pale cream to white crown, paired with blue cheeks and a blue-black back scalloped in pale edging. It occupies open forest and woodland across Queensland and into northeastern New South Wales.
Where its range overlaps with the eastern rosella along a narrow contact zone, the two species occasionally hybridize, producing birds with intermediate head colouring that can puzzle even experienced birdwatchers.
26. Northern Rosella
The northern rosella (Platycercus venustus) departs from the bright reds of other rosellas, instead showing a black head and back finely scalloped in yellow, with pale blue cheek patches. It is a quieter, more subdued-looking bird suited to the monsoonal woodlands of northern Australia.
This species occupies the Top End of the Northern Territory and the Kimberley region of Western Australia, favouring eucalypt woodland near watercourses where it forages for seeds and occasional insects.
27. Green Rosella
The green rosella (Platycercus caledonicus) is the largest member of the rosella group and the only one found exclusively on Tasmania. Its olive-green body, yellow underparts, and blue cheek patches give it a more muted palette than its mainland relatives.
Well adapted to Tasmania’s cooler climate, the green rosella ranges from coastal scrub to mountain forest, making it one of the more habitat-flexible rosellas on the island.
28. Western Rosella
The western rosella (Platycercus icterotis) is the smallest of Australia’s rosellas, with males showing a red head and underparts set against yellow cheek patches and a dark-scalloped green back. Females are duller, with more green mixed through the red.
Confined to the southwest corner of Western Australia, this rosella favours farmland edges, orchards, and open woodland, where it has adapted well to partially cleared agricultural landscapes.
29. Australian Ringneck (Port Lincoln, Twenty-eight)
The Australian ringneck (Barnardius zonarius) is a widespread species split into several distinctive regional forms, unified by a thin yellow collar across the back of the neck. The Port Lincoln form, found across South Australia and Western Australia, shows a black head and blue cheeks against a yellow-green body.
The Twenty-eight parrot form, restricted to the southwest corner of Western Australia, takes its name from a call that sounds remarkably like the words “twenty-eight.” A third form, the Mallee ringneck, occupies inland woodland further east across New South Wales, Victoria, and Queensland, rounding out one of the more geographically variable parrots in Australia.
30. Mulga Parrot
The mulga parrot (Psephotellus varius) packs an unusually broad colour range into a single bird, mixing green, yellow, red, and blue across its body and wings depending on the angle of light. Males are considerably more vivid than the duller olive-green females.
As its name suggests, this species favours mulga and other arid acacia woodland across inland Australia, where it feeds on the ground for seeds of native grasses and shrubs.
31. Red-rumped Parrot
The red-rumped parrot (Psephotus haematonotus) is a familiar sight on farmland and roadside paddocks across southeastern Australia. Males show bright green upperparts, a yellow belly, and the red rump patch that gives the species its name, while females are a more uniform dull olive.
These parrots feed almost entirely on the ground, walking through grass to pick up fallen seed rather than foraging in trees, which makes them easy to spot along quiet country roads at dawn or dusk.
32. Blue Bonnet
The blue bonnet (Psephotus haematogaster) takes its name from the deep blue feathering across its face, set against an otherwise brown-olive body with red and yellow patches on the belly and under the wings. It is a heavier-set, ground-feeding parrot of Australia’s semi-arid interior.
Several regional variations exist across its range in inland New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia, and Victoria, differing slightly in the extent of red belly colouring between populations.
33. Bourke’s Parrot
Bourke’s parrot (Neopsephotus bourkii) wears soft, dusty pink and brown tones rather than the bright greens typical of most Australian parrots, with a pale blue rump visible in flight. The muted palette provides excellent camouflage against the red earth and dry scrub of its arid habitat.
Unusually for a parrot, Bourke’s parrot is most active at dawn, dusk, and even into moonlit nights, feeding and moving during the cooler hours to avoid the heat of the central Australian day.
34. Hooded Parrot
The hooded parrot (Psephotellus dissimilis) is a striking turquoise bird with a glossy black cap, or “hood,” that gives males their name, along with a bright yellow patch on the folded wing. It has one of the most restricted ranges of any mainland Australian parrot.
Found only in a pocket of the Northern Territory’s Top End, hooded parrots nest almost exclusively in termite mounds, excavating a chamber into the hardened earth rather than relying on tree hollows like most other parrots.
35. Golden-shouldered Parrot
The golden-shouldered parrot (Psephotellus chrysopterygius) shares the hooded parrot’s turquoise body and termite-mound nesting habit but adds a distinctive golden-yellow shoulder patch and, in males, a black cap bordered by a pale forehead. It is now one of Australia’s most endangered parrots.
Restricted to a small area of Cape York Peninsula in far north Queensland, the species has suffered from changed fire regimes and predation pressure near its termite-mound nest sites, prompting targeted conservation programs to protect remaining breeding grounds.
Important Note: Several Australian parrots discussed in this guide, including the golden-shouldered parrot, orange-bellied parrot, and swift parrot, are subject to active government and conservation-group recovery programs. Status can shift as new population surveys are completed, so readers researching current listings should check official sources for the latest assessment.
36. Princess Parrot
The princess parrot (Polytelis alexandrae) is one of the most elegant Australian parrots, with soft pastel green, blue, and pink tones running the length of its slender body and long tail. It was named in honour of Princess Alexandra of Wales by the naturalist who first described it.
This species is a true desert nomad, ranging widely across the remote deserts of central Australia in search of flowering and seeding acacia, and can go years without being recorded in a given area before suddenly reappearing when conditions are favourable.
37. Regent Parrot
The regent parrot (Polytelis anthopeplus) is a long-tailed, yellow-green parrot with bold red patches across the wing, visible both at rest and in flight. Its population splits into two separated groups, one in the southwest wheatbelt of Western Australia and another along the Murray-Darling river system in the southeast.
Both populations depend on mature River Red Gum and eucalypt woodland for nesting hollows, and ongoing habitat clearance has left the species listed as vulnerable, with the eastern population facing particular pressure from river regulation and land clearing.
38. Swift Parrot
The swift parrot (Lathamus discolor) earns its name honestly, cutting through the air with a fast, direct flight unlike the slower wingbeats of most other parrots. Bright green overall with a red face and throat, it breeds only in Tasmania before migrating across Bass Strait to spend winter on the Australian mainland.
This migratory pattern, paired with the clearing of flowering eucalypt forest on both sides of its journey, has pushed the swift parrot to critically endangered status, with introduced sugar gliders in Tasmania adding further pressure by preying on nesting females and chicks. Its reputation for speed has made it a frequent reference point on lists ranking the fastest animals in the bird world.
39. Turquoise Parrot
The turquoise parrot (Neophema pulchella) shows a vivid turquoise face and wing edge set against an olive-green body, with males adding a chestnut-red shoulder patch that females lack. It favours the grassy edges of woodland in a band running through inland New South Wales, Victoria, and southeastern Queensland.
The species came close to extinction in the early twentieth century before recovering substantially through habitat protection, though it remains dependent on a mix of open grassland for feeding and nearby timber for shelter and nesting.
40. Scarlet-chested Parrot
The scarlet-chested parrot (Neophema splendida) packs three bold colours into one small bird: a deep blue face, a vivid scarlet chest, and a yellow belly, all set against a green back. Few Australian parrots display such a sharp contrast of colour across such a compact frame.
This desert specialist ranges across the arid interior of South Australia and neighbouring states, where its nomadic movements track rainfall and the flush of seeding grasses that follows. Its brilliant colouring has also made it a long-time favourite in aviculture.
41. Elegant Parrot
The elegant parrot (Neophema elegans) carries a more understated palette than its scarlet-chested relative, combining olive-green and yellow tones with a narrow blue band across the forehead. Despite the subdued colouring, it remains a neat, well-proportioned bird true to its name.
It occupies drier woodland and coastal heath across southern Western Australia and South Australia, feeding mainly on the ground for grass and herb seeds in small, quiet family groups.
42. Blue-winged Parrot
The blue-winged parrot (Neophema chrysostoma) is an olive-green bird marked by a patch of deep blue along the leading edge of the wing, visible clearly in flight. It closely resembles several other Neophema parrots but can be told apart by subtle differences in facial markings.
Like the swift parrot, this species migrates between Tasmania, where much of the population breeds, and the southeastern mainland, where it spends the non-breeding months in coastal grassland and saltmarsh.
43. Orange-bellied Parrot
The orange-bellied parrot (Neophema chrysogaster) is bright green with a distinctive orange patch on the belly and a blue band across the forehead, and it ranks among the rarest parrots on the planet. It breeds only in a small area of southwest Tasmania before migrating to coastal saltmarsh on the Australian mainland for winter.
Wild numbers have fallen to critically low levels in recent decades, and the species now survives largely through an intensive captive breeding and release program designed to supplement the dwindling wild population. Every individual bird is considered significant to the species’ survival, making the orange-bellied parrot a focal point of Australian bird conservation.
44. Rock Parrot
The rock parrot (Neophema petrophila) wears duller olive-brown tones than most of its Neophema relatives, an adaptation suited to the rocky coastal habitat it calls home. It forages along beaches, dunes, and offshore islands across southern Australia.
Unlike many parrots that rely on inland woodland, the rock parrot nests in rock crevices and burrows on coastal islands, feeding on the seeds of saltbush and other salt-tolerant coastal vegetation.
45. Night Parrot
The night parrot (Pezoporus occidentalis) is arguably the most mysterious bird in Australia, a nocturnal, ground-dwelling species with mottled yellow-green plumage built for disappearing into spinifex grassland. For most of the twentieth century it was feared extinct, known only from a handful of old specimens, until confirmed sightings in Queensland brought the species back into the scientific record.
Its secretive habits, remote desert range, and almost total avoidance of daylight activity mean even dedicated researchers rarely see one directly, relying instead on call recordings and camera traps. The species’ oversized dark eyes, adapted for finding its way through the dark, place it among the more unusual entries on any list of animals with notably large eyes.
46. Ground Parrot
The ground parrot (Pezoporus wallicus) shares the night parrot’s preference for life on the ground, mottled in green, yellow, and black streaking that blends seamlessly into the coastal heathland it inhabits. Along with the night parrot, it is one of only two Australian parrot species that have evolved to favour a terrestrial lifestyle.
This species rarely flies unless flushed underfoot, preferring to move through dense low vegetation on foot while foraging for seeds. Remaining populations persist in coastal heath across southeastern and southwestern Australia and Tasmania, though habitat loss and inappropriate fire regimes continue to threaten suitable ground cover.
47. Double-eyed Fig Parrot
The double-eyed fig parrot (Cyclopsitta diophthalma) is one of the smallest parrots in the world, a compact green bird brightened by patches of red, blue, and yellow around the face that vary between its several Australian subspecies. Its tiny size lets it move easily through the forest canopy.
True to its name, this species feeds heavily on native fig fruit, extracting the seeds while leaving much of the flesh behind, and is restricted in Australia to rainforest patches along the far north Queensland coast.
48. Red-cheeked Parrot
The red-cheeked parrot (Geoffroyus geoffroyi) reaches the southern edge of its range at the very tip of Cape York Peninsula, with the bulk of the species’ population found further north in New Guinea. Males show a red cheek patch and blue-grey crown against an otherwise green body, while females lack the red facial colouring.
This parrot favours dense rainforest and forest edges, feeding on fruit, seeds, and blossom in the forest canopy, and its limited Australian range makes it one of the harder species on this list to observe without a dedicated trip to Cape York.
From the dry inland flocks of budgerigars to the hollow-dwelling eclectus parrots of Cape York rainforest, Australian parrots fill nearly every habitat the continent offers. Many species, including the orange-bellied parrot, swift parrot, and golden-shouldered parrot, depend on active conservation work to avoid further decline, while others, like the galah and rainbow lorikeet, remain common enough to brighten a city park on any given afternoon. Readers interested in more of the continent’s distinctive wildlife can also explore Australian horse breeds and Australian cat breeds for a wider look at the animals shaped by this unique landscape.