Regent Parrot

The Regent Parrot is a slim, long-tailed parrot best known for the male's rich golden-yellow plumage set off by an olive-green back and a bright red band across the folded wing. Females and immature birds are considerably duller, mostly olive-green with only hints of yellow, making sexes easy to tell apart in good light.

Two geographically separated subspecies occur: a western population in the mallee and wheatbelt woodlands of southwestern Australia, and a smaller, more threatened eastern population associated with river red gum forests along the Murray River system.

Key field marks

• Long, tapering tail typical of the genus Polytelis
• Males: bright golden-yellow body with an olive-green back and a red wing band
• Females: duller olive-green overall with reduced yellow tones
• Slim, streamlined body shape in flight

Similar species

• Superb Parrot: another Polytelis species with green and yellow plumage, but males show a red throat crescent rather than an all-yellow body, and it favors different woodland habitat further east.
• Australian Ringneck: stockier body shape, yellow neck band rather than overall golden plumage.

Habitat

Regent Parrots favor mallee woodland, wheatbelt remnants, and, in the eastern population, tall river red gum forest along major rivers, where they nest in large old trees.

Range

The species has two disjunct populations: one in southwestern Australia's wheatbelt and mallee country, and a smaller eastern population along the Murray River in Victoria, New South Wales, and South Australia.

Migration

Largely sedentary but locally nomadic, moving in response to seed and blossom availability, with some seasonal concentration near breeding rivers.

Behavior

Regent Parrots are often seen in pairs or flocks, flying with a fast, direct flight on relatively pointed wings, and feeding quietly on the ground beneath trees or in low vegetation.

Voice

Calls include a rolling, metallic "currack-currack" given in flight, along with softer chattering notes while feeding.

Feeding

Diet includes seeds of eucalypts, acacias, and grasses, blossoms, fruits, and sometimes spilled or cultivated grain near farmland.

Nesting and breeding

Nests are built in deep hollows of large old eucalypts, often river red gums near water. Clutches typically contain four to six white eggs, incubated mainly by the female, with young fledging around five weeks after hatching.