Ground Parrot Pezoporus wallicus Scientific name definitions

30 cm; mean 130 g. Red frontal band  ; plain green on face and breast  ; crown green with black streaks; upperparts  green mottled black  with yellow buff chevrons and spots; flanks and belly yellowish barred black; tail dull green with yellow notches on outer vanes. Female has pale yellow underwing stripe. Immature lacks red frontal band and face and breast are marked black . Race flaviventris  has bright yellow on belly with reduced barring.

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Editor's Note: Additional distribution information for this taxon can be found in the 'Subspecies' article above. In the future we will develop a range-wide distribution article.

Generally found in coastal graminoid and adjacent montane heathlands up to 1800 m, optimally 5–10 years after burning has taken place in heath dominated by shrubs, 15–18 years after burning in heath dominated by sedges and grass trees. Within heaths, birds frequent drier habitats from mid-autumn to late spring, wetter ones in summer and early autumn, apparently in response to seed availability. Birds also occur, perhaps only seasonally, in estuarine flats, swampy ground with reed clumps, grasslands and pastures. In Tasmania, buttongrass moorland, consisting of a mosaic of graminoid heathland  , scrub and sedgelands.

Peculiar high-pitched song-like vocalization primarily heard at dawn and dusk. Either a series of some 10–15 pure single whistles that rise in pitch, or variants in which the single whistle is replaced by 4–5 fast notes, “titititi...titititi...titititi”, or by a more rhythmic double-noted “tee-ti...tee-ti...tee-ti...”. Also similar-sounding single notes and short phrases. Flight call a high-pitched “tee-tee-tee”.

Generally Jul–Dec; once Mar. Nest a shallow scrape in soil lined with stalks or leaves, often at the base of a tussock or bush and hidden in a tunnel or chamber of vegetation, in Queensland the key plants being Empodisma minor, Xanthorrhoea fulva and Banksia oblongifolia. Of 20 found, 18 in dry heath, 2 on dry/wet ecotone, and all in areas not burnt for at least 4 years; minimum density was 1–1·3 nests per 10 ha. Eggs  3–4, but up to 6 recorded in Tasmania; incubation c. 21 days; young leave the scrape after 20–28 days, often a little before fully capable of flight. Egg failure high at 22–31%. On average a pair produced 1·9 fledglings per nest.

Not globally threatened. CITES I. Loss of habitat to urban and agricultural development, including inappropriate burning and establishment of pine plantations, along the seaboard has rendered this species relatively rare, and its range is greatly restricted and discontinuous, with high degree of endangerment in Western and South Australia. Although the population in Tasmania is probably over 100,000 birds, that in SE Australia is much lower, with an estimated 2900 birds in Queensland, and that in SW Australia (entire race flaviventris  ) only 378. Peak densities are 4–6 birds per 10 ha, but only occur 5–8 years after heathland burnt (15 years after burning, few or no parrots are believed to occur); similar situation in Tasmania, though in Western Australia birds favour older heaths, whose much lighter annual rainfall means that recovery after fire is much slower. Thus habitat management involving burning on an 8–10 year cycle is necessary in SE range to prevent invasion of woody plants; and/or the control of grazing to ensure sufficient growth in food-plants and cover. Tasmania now the stronghold. All SW populations (race flaviventris) are now within Fitzgerald R and Cape Arid National Parks, but this does not give full protection against fire: an estimated third of the parrot population in the former was lost in a fire in Dec 1989, and both fox predation and habitat deterioration through the spread of soil fungi Phytophthora may be causing problems.