Alternative name: Alexandra's Parrot
- Polytelis alexandrae
Identification
45 cm (17¾ in)
Green overall plumage with a pink throat, bluish crown and rump and bright green shoulders. A long, narrow tail. Their wings have bright green bands on them. They have multi-colored faces with pastel-blue washed foreheads and pink cheeks. Their necks and upper-chests are also rose coloured.
The males have longer tail feathers and brighter colouring than females. The male also has a coral-red beak, while the female's is wine-coloured. The male has an orange iris, while the female's is much browner.
Distribution
Dry eucalyptus forests of interior central and western Australia. The best bets lately seems to have been in Western Australia, but with only small numbers seen. Also found in stands of Desert Oak (Allocasuarina decaisneana) with understorey of spinifex in north-western South Australia as recent as May, 2010.
Taxonomy
This is a monotypic species[1].
Habitat
It inhabits arid woodland and scrub with spinifex, eucalypts, acacias, etc.
Behaviour
Nomadic.
Breeding
Four to six rounded white eggs are laid in a hollow in a eucalypt or desert oak.
Diet
They feed on the seeds of grasses, spinifex and shrubs.
References
- Clements, J. F., T. S. Schulenberg, M. J. Iliff, D. Roberson, T. A. Fredericks, B. L. Sullivan, and C. L. Wood. 2015. The eBird/Clements checklist of birds of the world: v2015, with updates to August 2015. Downloaded from http://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/download/
- Handbook of the Birds of the World Alive (retrieved August 2015)
- Link to a recent report of visible Princess Parrots.
