Paradise Parrots aka Beautiful Parakeet
<Extinct>
Psephotus
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The Paradise Parrot (Psephotus pulcherrimus) was an unusually colourful medium-sized parrot native to the grassy woodlands of the Queensland - New South Wales border area of Australia. Once moderately common within its fairly restricted range, the last live bird was seen in 1927. Extensive and sustained searches in the years since then have failed to produce any reliable evidence of it, and it is undoubtedly extinct.
Paradise Parrots lived in pairs or small family groups, making their nests in hollowed-out termite mounds and similar places, often at or near ground level, and feeding, so far as is known, almost exclusively on grass seeds.
The plumage was extraordinarily colorful, even by parrot standards, a mixture of turquoise, aqua, scarlet, black and brown, and the tail almost the same length as the body—something difficult to understand in a bird that, although a rapid, undulating flyer, spent almost all of its time on the ground.
The reasons for the sudden decline of the Paradise Parrot remain speculative. Possibilities include overgrazing, land clearing, changed fire regimes, hunting by bird collectors, and predation by introduced mammals like cats. It became rare towards the end of the 19th century and was thought extinct by 1915. A series of searches turned up a few more individuals over the next decade, but the last confirmed sighting was on 14 September 1927.
Names:
Genus: Scientific: Psephotus ... English: Red-backed Parakeetss ... Dutch: Roodrugparkieten ... German: Singsittiche ... French: Perruche chantant 
Species: Scientific: Psephotus pulcherrimus ... English: Paradise Parrot, Beautiful Parakeet ... Dutch: Paradijsparkiet ... German: Paradiessittich ... French: Perruche du paradis
Description:
Forehead red; eye area green-yellowish; cheeks, throat and breast emerald-green becoming turquoise on sides of body; crown and nape black; hindneck brownish-black; back, lower back and flight-feathers greyish-brown; median and outer lesser wing-coverts, centre of abdomen, under tail-coverts and thighs red; bend of wing, primary-coverts, outer webs of primaries, outer secondaries and under wing-coverts blue; middle tail-feathers upperside bronze-green with blue-black tips; outer tail-feathers greenish-blue with whitish-blue tips; tail underside white-bluish; bill grey; narrow periophthalmic ring grey; iris brown; feet greyish-brown.
Female with dull yellowish-brown forehead; sides of head, throat, breast and sides of neck dusky brownish-yellow; feathers with brownish-orange tips; abdomen and under tail-coverts pale blue with little red to abdomen feathers; lower back, rump and upper tail-coverts pale turquoise; lesser and inner median wing-coverts dull red; edge of wing, under wing-coverts, primary-coverts, outer webs of primaries grey-blue; pale stripe to underside of wing.
Immatures as female; however young males with emerald-green to cheeks and breast, darker crown and nape as well as darker red to wings; under-wing stripe present; bill more yellowish. Length: 27 cm (10.5 ins)
Related Websites: Lexicon of Parrots
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