Superb Parrot Polytelis swainsonii Scientific name definitions

40 cm; 133–157 g. Green , with pinkish red bill, yellow forehead to mid-crown tinged blue on hindcrown ; yellow lower face , chin and throat with a broad red band across foreneck; outer webs of primaries dull blue, underside  of tail  black. Female all green, bluish  on face, with reddish thighs and undersides of lateral tail feathers. Immature similar.

Interior SE Australia (NC New South Wales to N Victoria), breeding only in S of range (Riverine, Nathalia area); winters N to Namoi R.

Riverine eucalypt woodland dominated by red gum (Eucalyptus camaldulensis), also penetrating well-watered open forest and groves in pastures in E of range. Nest-site distribution correlated with breeding-season foraging habitat, i.e. woodland of yellow box (Eucalyptus melliodora), white cypress pine (Callitris columellaris) and borree (Acacia pendula).

N parts of range only occupied by part of population in winter, Apr–Aug; yet also evidence of local southward movement of birds in CW New South Wales, Jun. Birds also partly nomadic, moving in search of flowering eucalypts.

Seeds of grasses  , herbs and bushes, e.g. Erodium, Stipa, Danthonia, Hordeum murinum, Medicago denticulata, Acacia armata, heads of Sonchus oleraceus, Sisymbrium and Capsella; in winter lerps, mistletoe berries, Eucalyptus blossoms and grass seed. Sometimes takes wheat from stubble, and spilt grain at roadsides.

Commonest vocalization is a rolling, grating, somewhat husky “currack”, typically repeated by all members of a flock. Also quavering trills and harsher calls.

Sept–Dec. Nest is situated in hollow limb or hole in tree, generally high (11–51 m) over water in a riverine eucalypt; often colonial. Eggs  4–6; incubation lasts c. 20 days; nestling period c. 30 days.

Not globally threatened (Least Concern). CITES II. Restricted-range species: present in South-east Australia EBA. Numbers apparently tumbled in 1920s as an accidental effect of a crop-protection poisoning scheme aimed at Eolophus roseicapilla and rabbits, although trapping for the cagebird market was also perhaps significant. Total breeding population long thought to be under 10,000 adult birds, but in 2010 an expert panel concluded that there were probably significantly more than 10,000 mature individuals and that the population is no longer declining (1 Garnett, S. T., J. K. Szabo, and G. Dutson (2011). The Action Plan for Australian Birds 2010. CSIRO Publishing, Collingwood, Victoria, Australia. Close ). Apparently confined to S of range, threatened by decline in availability of nest-sites, degradation and loss of foraging habitat, and probably heavy trapping (birds breed well and captive population in Australia c. 20,000). In 2001 nearly 1500 parrots were found in a study sampling 23,260 km² of parrot habitat, with the species present at 65% of sites surveyed (2 Manning, A.D., Lindenmayer, D.B., Barry, S.C. and Nix, H.A. (2006). Multi-scale site and landscape effects on the vulnerable superb parrot of south-eastern Australia during the breeding season. Landscape Ecology. 21(7):1119–1133. Close ). The species has been recorded from 11 conservation reserves, but most of its range is on private land (2 Manning, A.D., Lindenmayer, D.B., Barry, S.C. and Nix, H.A. (2006). Multi-scale site and landscape effects on the vulnerable superb parrot of south-eastern Australia during the breeding season. Landscape Ecology. 21(7):1119–1133. Close ). Formerly assessed as Vulnerable at the national level (3 Garnett, S. T., and G. M. Crowley (2000). The Action Plan for Australian Birds 2000. Environment Australia, Canberra. URL: http://www.environment.gov.au/biodiversity/threatened/publications/action/birds2000/index.html (download 15 April 2012). Close ), it is no longer considered of national conservation concern (1 Garnett, S. T., J. K. Szabo, and G. Dutson (2011). The Action Plan for Australian Birds 2010. CSIRO Publishing, Collingwood, Victoria, Australia. Close ). It was likewise downlisted from globally Vulnerable to Least Concern in 2012.