Bluebonnet Parrot – A Majestic Creature That Will Capture Your Heart

Behavior & Habitats: As the name implies, the Bluebonnet’s face is blue, not its head. Bluebonnets are often observed on the ground, eating seeds in the shade of trees, scurrying around in an upright position. Perched in the foliage of trees and shrubs during the heat of the day, they remain extremely silent, which makes them difficult to locate.

Bluebonnets flutter agitatedly between trees and shrubs, alighting without much tail fanning; their rapid wingbeats are broken regularly by short glides on folded wings. They do not seem to be affected by these factors during flight, but they do flutter agitatedly, with little undulation, low between trees and shrubs.

While they forage on exposed bare branches and telegraph lines, they also come out to feed and drink early in the morning and late in the afternoon. In general, bluebonnets are gregarious. A pair of adults appear to form permanently, but they are often found in groups of up to 30 individuals, either socially or for feeding.

Bluebonnets are closely related to Grass Parrots, in that they share their size, pale eyes, some aspects of display, and liver enzymes. Some ornithologists associate them all with one genus, Psephotus. The Bluebonnet also exhibits several characteristics of Rosella, Platycercus: colored cheeks, a staccato flight similar to White-cheeked Rosella, and flashes of erratic and slow-moving flight. An immature Crimson Rosella even exhibits a pattern parallel to the brown plumage that matches its dry woodland habitat. Also, Bluebonnets are distinguished by their own unique characteristics. The fawn-brown color of the plumage is one example.

Another example is a vestigial crest. They may do this while thrusting their shoulders forward and bobbing their heads jerkily, like a cockatoo. Also unique to them are their unusually pointed flight feathers.

Courtship: A male displays for his mate at the beginning of the breeding season. A griffon stands erect, raises its wings and vibrates them, shakes its tail from side to side, rapidly head-bobs, and raises its forecrown feathers. Both the male and female preen one another when courting or when incubating and brooding their young, but a paired male does feed his mate. Hence, the female is the only one who regurgitates food for the young at this stage. She is fed morning and afternoon during those times by the male. After the male stops brooding, about two weeks after they are born, the female begins feeding the young directly, which he continues to do for the first couple of weeks after they leave the nest.

Diet: Seeds from native plants, particularly acacias, and chenopods, form the basis of their diet. They pick a triplex and Maireana from the ground or low shrubbery.

Alternative names: It has several other names, including Bulloke Parrot, Red-bellied Bluebonnet, Naretha Parrot, Little Bluebonnet, and Red-vented Bluebonnet.

Measurement: The size of the Bluebonnet is about 280-320mm including a long tapered tail.

Identification: MALE: The upper surface from the crown to the scapulars, the back, rump, and two central tail feathers are a medium to pale fawn-brown color. There is a rich blue color on the face and brows, grading to turquoise on the brow; the hind cheeks are washed cream-white. The throat and breast are pale fawn-brown, with or without cream mauling.

A large blood-red patch appears only on the belly of some races (central), on the crissum of some races (western Naret ha race), or from the belly to the crissum of some races (eastern races). Generally grading from golden green on shoulders to deep blue on primary coverts and bend of the wing (bend of wing turquoise in eastern race); flight feathers dusky, outer blue washed, inner fawn; underwing coverts yellow-green. There is a broad bluish-white tip on the outer tail feathers. The eye is pale grey. The bill is pale bone-grey, and the cere is slate-grey. The feet, toes, and claws are dark grey.

FEMALE: The head is narrower than that of a male, the face is less blue, and the belly is less red or yellow (Naretha race). White wing bars remain.

IMMATURES: The belly is less red than the belly of an adult, but it is duller. The buff-white bar along the underside of flight feathers disappears early in the season. The eyes, bill, and feet are the same as in adults; the bill is yellow in fledglings. When young are three-four months old, their adult plumage appears at their first molt post-fledging. DOWNY YOUNG: is White-downed with buff-billed.

Voice: Bluebonnets are of the red-bellied race. The female, right, has less blue on her face and is duller. Two-syllable or rapidly repeated harsh chaurring notes kluk-kluk in alarm and in flight; similar to White-cheeked Rosella’s staccato flight call. Occasionally, this species produces a softer penetrating whistle, similar to that produced by a Crimson Rosella from a perch.

Nests and Breeds: A sufficient amount of rain must have fallen in the preceding months for nesting and breeding to take place. Usually located on the ground, nests are deep hollows or holes in trees about seven to eight meters above the ground.

Eggs: It lays four to seven, usually five, white eggs that measure 23-24 x 18-20 mm. It takes about 20 days for the female to incubate. Young fledge in four-five weeks.

Distribution: The Blue Bonnet is found in semi-arid southern inland Australia, in open casuarina, cypress pine, Myoporum, and acacia woodlands.

Races: Four races exist.

1. There is one isolated species in the myall woodlands around the western fringes of the Nullarbor Plain. With a blue face grading into turquoise on the brow, a yellow belly, and a red crissum, it is slightly smaller than other species. Naretha Parrots or Liule Bluebonnets are such birds.

2. Another range is from the Eyre Peninsula and Adelaide to the Victorian Mallee and southwestern New South Wales east to the Riverina, where it begins to intergrade with the Red-vented Bluebonnet. The Red-bellied Bluebonnet has an all-blue face, a red belly, and a yellow crissum.

3. It is restricted to the eastern Lake Eyre Basin in South Australia, east to the Paroo-Darling Rivers in the far west of New South Wales and Queensland where it intergrades with the Red-bellied and Red-vented Bluebonnets; it is similar to the red-bellied race but has a much paler body.

4. Finally, along the Lachlan-Barwon drainages in north-central New South Wales and neighboring Queensland, is the Red-vented Bluebonnet, which is red-vented, has a red wash over its wings, and a turquoise band on its wings.

There are two species of Australian parrots in the genus Northiella known as bluebonnets. It is named after Australian ornithologist Alfred John North.

Eastern bluebonnet – (Northiella haematogaster) – Found in Australia

Naretha bluebonnet – (Northiella narethae) – Mainly found in southeastern Western Australia to southwestern South Australia.