- Barnardius barnardi
AKA Eastern Ringneck or Mallee parrot
Identification
32-36 cm.
Blue-green body, red band above beak and blue cheeks, V-shaped brown-blue band extending from the eyes, back around the head, to meet a narrow yellow collar at the nape. Irregular band of orange-yellow across the belly, with the back and mantle a deep blue-black. Yellow shoulders, blue flight feathers, underwing coverts and central tail feathers. The eye is dark brown; bill is pale grey; feet and legs are grey.
The "Cloncurry Parrot" (see Taxonomy) has paler back, yellower underside and lacks red on forehead.
Distribution
Eastern half of Australia, mainly south of the Tropic of Capricorn and absent from the most humid coastal areas.
Taxonomy
This species has in the past been lumped with Port Lincoln Ringneck. The status of these is still debated, and they could be re-lumped in the future.
Of subspecies included here, the Mallee Ringneck (B. b. barnardi (Vigors & Horsfield, 1827)) inhabits New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia, and Victoria. Additionally, B. b. whitei is found in the south-western end of the range described here.
The Cloncurry Parrot (B. b. macgillivrayi (North, 1900)) is found from the Lake Eyre basin in the Northern Territory to the North gulf of Queensland.
Habitat
Mallee scrub, open woodlands and in trees along watercourses.
Behaviour
Their diet includes seeds of grasses and herbs, fruit, blossoms, leaf buds and insects and their larvae.
The nest is made in a hollow by male and female who line the bottom with decaying wood dust and making a shallow depression for the eggs. 4-6 white eggs are laid and incubated by the female for 20-21 days. The young leave after about 30 days.
Locally nomadic.
