The Hooded Parrot, named after the black cap of the male, is a pretty turquoise-coloured
parrot from Australia's Northern Territory. The male has attractive bright yellow wing patches and a red vent.
A similar-looking relative, the rare Golden-shouldered Parrot of Queensland,
also has a (smaller) black cap, turquoise body, (smaller) gold wing patches and a red vent (see separate page).
The turquoise front
The V sign
Cleaning one's toenail's
The Hooded Parrot is sometimes classed as a subspecies of the Golden-shouldered. The two,
together with the Mulga Parrot, were moved from the Psephotus genus to Psephotellus when recent DNA analysis
indicated that they were less-closely related to the Red-rumped Parrot (Psephotus genus) than previously thought.
The hen parrots look entirely different from the males - see below. They nest in termite mounds.
It takes the female some 3 weeks to dig her nesting hollow in a termite mound.
Hen of Hooded parrot showing delicate blue breast and blue cheek with shadow grey cap
and turquoise-blue rump (with Hooded male)