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The Turquoise Parrot

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The Turquoise Parrot Vol. 4 MARCH 15, 1973 No. 8 The Turquoise Parrot By HOWARD JARMAN, Melbourne SUMMARY The history of the Turquoise Parrot, Neophema pulchella, its past and present status, and its distribution is discussed. It was common in parts of south-eastern Australia up to 1900, and then declined in numbers and was thought to be on the verge of extinction. However, it is once again becoming common in some parts of Victoria, New South Wales and southern Queensland. Records for South Aus­ tralia are very doubtful. Usually a terrestrial feeder, it eats the seeds of grasses, shrubs and weeds, spilled grain and moss spores. Drinking water must be avail ­ able. It prefers lightly forested hiJJs and the margins of woodland and timbered streams. The female is similar to the female Sca rlet­ chested Parrot, N. splendida, a species usually confined to more arid regions in the western half of Australia. INTRODUCTION Several of the small parrots of the genus Neophema have been regarded, at some time or other, as being very rare, or even extinct. The Turquoise Parrot, also known as the Chestnut-shouldered Par­ rakeet, or the Turquoisine Grass-Parrakeet, is one of the species which has been included in this category. In the early days of settlement in Australia it was seen in large numbers in the south-eastern part of the continent, from eastern Victoria to beyond the Tropic of Capricorn in eastern Queensland. Within 50 years its disappearance from this extensive range of C:)Untry was a ca use of great concern. Thus D. Seth-Smith ( 1909) v1rites how. on a visit to Sydney in 1908, he was shown a location "not a dozen miles from the Metropolis where H. Peir as a boy had shot Turquoisine Parrots for pies. Now no one knows where (they) have gone to, if indeed a single bird exists in its wild state". Neville W. Cayley ( 1938) often saw it in his youth in the outer western suburbs of Sydney and the foothills of the Blue Mountains. At the time of writing he stated that it was rare, only an occasional isolated pair being recorded. However, A. R. McGill ( 1960) commented on the increase in numbers of the parrot since 1930, with numerous sight records from all parts of New South Wales, except the far west and far south. In 1956 he had found the species to be common in certain areas, even out-numbering the well-known Red-backed Parrot. Psephotus hae- 240 JARMAN [ Bird Watcher matonotus. Turquoise Parrots have also reappeared in north-eastern Victoria, and south-eastern Queensland. Much information about the distribution of the parrot is not forth­ coming, as some observers are of the opinion -that bird-trappers would use it to their advantage. DESCRIPTION AND FIELD IDENTIFICATION The adult male Turquoise Parrot is quite distinctive. The fore­ head and face are a brilliant turauoise blue and the crown, back. rump and middle tail feathers grass green. The outer tail feathers, breast and abdomen are a rich golden yellow, primaries dark blue and a shoulder patch of variable extent, reddish-brown. However, some males have the breast greenish-yellow, possibly being young birds. The female is duller than the male, having the frontal area less extensive and of a paler blue, breast green and a bd omen and under tail yellow. Occasionally a small reddish shoulder-patch is present. The female Turquoise is very similar to the female Scarlet-chested Parrot, but has paler blue primaries. Juveniles are similar to adult females but even when they have just left the nest young males are brighter than their female nest-mates, and often have the chestnut shoulder-patch (West, 1951) . Adult plumage is acquired by a moult of the body feathers, and is completed at about the age of four months (Lend on. 1951). Lend on also remarks that some adults of both sexes exhibit a large orange­ red patch on the abdomen. R. E. B. Brown (1952) writes that ery­ thrism is fairly common in the species, some males having red on the breast and a bd omen and very extensive red patches on the shoulders. Females and juveniles only have an under wing stripe (Lendon, 1940) . T hese parrots are about 200 mm ( 8 inches) long. DISTRIBUTION AND HABITAT The Turquoise Parrot was formerly found from the vicinity of the Dandenong Ranges. near Melbourne, through eastern Victoria and the eastern half of New South Wales and Queensland. to about the Tropic of Capricorn. It is not known whether it was present through­ out all parts of this range. Currently there is a discontinuous distribution from north-eastern Victoria, through the eastern half of New South Wales to south­ eastern Queensland, in the vicinity of Mary borough. The records for South A ustralia are not usually accepted. Lightly timbered hills and " broken" country, the fringes of fores­ ted watercourses, and paddocks adjacent to woodland are the pre­ ferred habitat. Annual rainfall is usually in excess of 15 inches, and drinking water must be available. T urquoise Parrots seem to wander away from their breeding grounds when nesting is completed; their presence in any area being contingent on the season being favourable. The closely related Scarlet-chested Parrot is found in more arid, often waterless, country, inland and to the west of the range of the T urquoise Parrot (H. Jarman, 1968). The range of the two species may overlap in western New South Wales. March J The Turquoise Parrot 241 1973 BREEDING The Turquoise Parrot nests in hollows in trees, living or dead, from near ground level to about 30 feet high, as well as hollows in stumps, fence posts and fallen limbs. The white eggs, numbering from three to six, are laid on the bare wood or debris in the bottom of the hole. The breeding season normally extends from September to Nov­ ember, although P. A. Bourke (in !itt.) has found nests with eggs as early as August 4 and as late as March 15. He considers that the autumn nesting could be due to late summer rains following a dry winter. Usually, only the female broods the eggs and newly-hatched chicks. The male calls her to the nest entrance or to an adjacent perch and feeds her. Later he will enter the nest to feed and brood the young, when they are feathered. Females return readily to the nest and enter, even when an observer is nearby. B. Miller (1971) found a pair nesting near Nymagee, New South Wales, in December, 1970. The parents called the fledged young to the entrance of the spout in order to feed them; the female doing most of the work. Feeding took place from 8 a.m. to 10 a.m., and from 5 p.m. until nightfall. The parents did not visit the nest during the middle of the long hot day. The young birds could be heard cal­ ling in the nesting hollow, from a distance of 200 yards. This parrot breeds freely in captivity, having two clutches of eggs in a season. sometimes more. West (foe. cit.) had a pair, in an aviary, which laid four eggs, incubation beginning with the laying of the third egg. Although the male spent several hours in the nest, the female did all the incubating. She left the nest briefly morning and evening to feed and drink. The eggs took 18 days to hatch. At 21 days the young were at the entrance of the nest and left on the 29th day after hatch­ ing. Their parents continued to feed them for another two weeks. A vicultura!ist Simon Harvey ( 1930) had a female which began a second clutch the day after the first brood of the season had left the nest. The male only fed the fl ying young of the first brood. When the second and last brood had left the nest both parents fed the young. S. Harvey (1928) has had the parrots breed ing at the age of 12 months. Such data have yet to be recorded in the field . HISTORICAL T he Turquoisine Parrot was first described in 1792 by Dr. G. Shaw, in The Naturalists' Miscellany, Vol. III. plate 96. He named it Psittacus pulchella. T. Salvadori (1891) erected the genus Neo­ phema in 1891. Shaw and Nodder are often quoted as the authors of the foregoing work. but H. M. Whittell ( 1954) points out that Dr. Shaw was the author and F. P. Nodder the artist. It was apparently a common bird near Sydney, when that city was first settled in the late eighteenth century, and the parrakeet's beauty soon attracted the attention of the colonists. The Scottish painter or " limner", Thomas Watling, a convicted forger, was one of several artists who painted illustrations of birds 242 JARMAN [ Bird Watcher for Surgeon-General John White. Their collected works, now preser­ ved in The British Museum, are known, misleadingly, as the "Wat­ ling Drawings". However, the undated painting of the Turquoise Parrakeet, number 47, is undoubtedly Watling's work, as it bears his signature. A long description appended, in Whitteil's opinion (foe. cit.) written by White, concludes with the comment that " the whole of the bird 's colours are delightful but these most specially the best artist must ever despair of equalling". The species is also illustrated in Latham's General Synopsis of Birds, supplement li, plate 1 jl7. K. A. Hindwood (1970) considers that this painting is a copy of Watling's drawing. Latham had examined that drawing when it came into the possession of A. B.
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