Golden-shouldered Parrot

 

By Dr Martin Cohen & Julia Cooper (Wild about Australia)

 

Once wide spread across savannah woodland of Northern Queensland, the elegant Golden-shouldered Parrot is now classified as Endangered and restricted to small numbers within a very small area of southern Cape York Peninsula. The alteration of habitat over the past 100 years due to altered fire regimes and over grazing and heavy trapping and trafficking of the birds 50 years ago has led to this drastic decline.

 

These beautifully coloured parrots have a black crown with a yellow forehead and blue-green face. Male birds have a distinctive yellow shoulder patch. One of the few reliable places to see these parrots is in the dry well-grassed savannah woodlands found on Mary Valley Station. The best time of day to see them is early in the morning or late afternoon when they are actively feeding on small grass seeds or drinking from small shallow water holes. During the heat of the day they rest in the shady foliage of trees.

 

Golden-shouldered Parrots are often seen in pairs or small family groups. They commence breeding at the end of the wet season around April when grasses are seeding and the ant hill or termite mound that they nest in is still damp and easy to dig out. These birds tunnel up to 50 centimetres into a termite mound to build a nest chamber. Here the female lays four to six white, rounded eggs. Incubation takes about 20 days and the young fledge in approximately five weeks. A pair of Golden-shouldered Parrots may come back to the same nest site year after year.

 

Seeing these extremely rare and elegant parrots in the wild is a highlight of any bird or wildlife enthusiast’s trip to Cape York Peninsula.

 

http://www.capeyorkfrontier.com