Australian King-Parrot - Alisterus scapularis

Australian King-Parrot

Alisterus scapularis

Family: Psittacidae (Parrots, 40 species in Australia)
Size: 42 cm
Distribution: Within about 300 km of the coast of NSW and most of VIC and Southern QLD
Status: Common
Habitat: Moist, tall forests, and adjacent farmlands. Orchards, parks and gardens in autumn and winter
References: Simpson and Day, Reader's Digest

The Australian King-Parrot is a fairly common bird in some parts of the Blue Mountains, but not seen nearly as often as the Crimson Rosella. They are larger than rosellas and the sexes are obviously different.

The male (pictured below) has a red head while the female has a green head and does not have the "fluoro" bright green stripe on the side like the male does.

Australian King-Parrot - Alisterus scapularis
Photo: Featherdale Wildlife Park, Sydney NSW. High Resolution (1750 x 2735)

Australian King-Parrot - Alisterus scapularis
Photo: Featherdale Wildlife Park, Sydney NSW. High Resolution (2000 x 2967)

Australian King-Parrot - Alisterus scapularis
Photo: Featherdale Wildlife Park, Sydney NSW. High Resolution (1899 x 1488)

Some Birdwatching Resources

Slater Field Guide to Australian Birds, Peter Slater, Pat Slater and Raoul Slater. This is a smaller field guide, and its advantage is it is easy to carry around. Its size is 21.3 x 11.4 x 2.8 centimetres, or 8.4 x 4.5 x 1.1 inches in the old scale. So it is a good one to get if you want to have your field guide with you out in the field. Unlike most of the field guides it also has illustrations of the eggs of all the birds that breed in Australia. It has very good reviews on Amazon.

Click here to Purchase from Australia (Booktopia)

Purchase from Australia (Angus & Robertson)

Click here to purchase from Australia (The Nile) $28.45 AUD (May be unavailable)

Click here to purchase from Australia (Fishpond) May be expensive.

Click here to purchase from Amazon

Finding Australian Birds A Field Guide to Birding Locations, by Tim Dolby and Rohan Clarke. From the eastern rainforests to central deserts, Australia is home to some 900 species of birds. This book covers over 400 Australian bird watching sites conveniently grouped into the best birding areas, from one end of the country to the other. This includes areas such as Kakadu in the Top End and rocky gorges in the central deserts of the Northern Territory, the Great Barrier Reef in Queensland, rainforests distributed along the eastern Australian seaboard, some of the world's tallest forests in Tasmania, the Flinders Ranges and deserts along the iconic Strzelecki and Birdsville Tracks in South Australia, and the Mallee temperate woodlands and spectacular coastlines in both Victoria and south west Western Australia.

Purchase from Australia (Booktopia)

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