Barraband's parrot, Barraband's parakeet, Green leek parrot
The superb parrot (Polytelis swainsonii ), also known as Barraband's parrot, Barraband's parakeet, or green leek parrot, is a parrot native to south-eastern Australia. It is a dimorphic species and one of three species in the genus Polytelis.
The superb parrot is mostly bright green with darker flight feathers and is about 40 cm (16 in) long with a long pointed tail. Adult males have continuous yellow foreheads and throats, with a red horizontal band across the border of the throat.
The superb parrot is medium-sized, bright green, approximately 40 cm (16 in) long, and has long tail feathers, a yellow-green neck, and yellow-orange irises. The adult male has a scarlet band on its upper chest and a bright yellow face and throat. The adult female has a pale blue-green face, greyish-green throat, a variable tinged russet-pink fore-throat, and orange thighs. Juveniles have brown irises and otherwise resemble females. The male has adult coloured plumage at the age of about one year.
An Australian endemic, the superb parrot is restricted to the dry (sclerophyll) woodlands of New South Wales and Victoria. There is estimated to be at least 10,000 individuals in the wild.
It nests on hollow limb or a hole in a tree. During breeding season, small flocks of males often forage for food alone. Pairs may nest in a loose colonial system of as many as 6 pairs, so females are in the neighborhood at this time. The diet consists mainly of eucalypt flowers, fruits, nectar and pollen. It consumes seeds and green heads of the Yellow Box (Eucalyptus melliodora ).
During February–June 2005, timber logging in the Barmah State Forest destroyed 60 percent of the nesting colonies of the superb parrot (6,000 tonnes or 6,600 short tons of river red gums): with fewer than 150 breeding in Victoria, this has severely compromised their chances of survival.
In December 2008, dozens of reports were filed of superb parrots being hit by cars. NPWS wildlife officials speculated that the parrots had gorged on grain spilled from an uncovered truck and became unable to move, eventually being hit by automobiles.
