Australian King Parrot

The Australian King Parrot (Alisterus ) is endemic to eastern Australia. It is found in humid and heavily forested uplands regions of the eastern portion of the Continent, including eucalyptus wooded arease in and directly adjacent to subtropical and temperate rainforest. They feed on fruits, seeds or small insects.

Description.

Adults of both sexes are about 43cm (17in) in length, inclding the long broad tail. The adult male has a red head, breast and lower undersides, with a blue band on the back of the neck between the red above and green on the back, the wings are green and each has a pale green shoulder band, the tail is green, and the rump is blue. The male has a reddish-orange upper mandible with a black tip, a black lower mandible with an orange base, and yellow irises. The plumage of the female is much different to the male having a green head and breast, a grey beak, and the pale shoulder band is small or absent. Juveniles of both sexes have brown irises and a yellowish beak, and otherwise resemble the female.

There are two subspecies; A.s. minor is found at the northern limit of the species range and is similar in appearance to the nominate subspecies but smaller, typically about 5cm (2in) smaller in length. On those rare individuals which have areas without melanin, feathers are orange to yellow. Such a bird can look startingly different to the more common scarlet and green variety.

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