The Norfolk parakeet (''Cyanoramphus cookii''), also called Tasman parakeet, Norfolk Island green parrot or Norfolk Island red-crowned parakeet, is a species of

parrot Parrots (Psittaciformes), also known as psittacines (), are birds with a strong curved beak, upright stance, and clawed feet. They are classified in four families that contain roughly 410 species in 101 genus (biology), genera, found mostly in ...

in the family

Psittaculidae Psittaculidae is a family of parrots, commonly known as Old World parrots, though this term is a misnomer, as not all its members occur in the Old World and Psittacinae also occurs in the Old World. It consists of six subfamilies: Psittricha ...

. It is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found only in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also foun ...

Norfolk Island Norfolk Island ( , ; ) is an States and territories of Australia, external territory of Australia located in the Pacific Ocean between New Zealand and New Caledonia, directly east of Australia's Evans Head, New South Wales, Evans Head and a ...

(located between

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

and

New Caledonia New Caledonia ( ; ) is a group of islands in the southwest Pacific Ocean, southwest of Vanuatu and east of Australia. Located from Metropolitan France, it forms a Overseas France#Sui generis collectivity, ''sui generis'' collectivity of t ...

in the

Tasman Sea The Tasman Sea is a marginal sea of the South Pacific Ocean, situated between Australia and New Zealand. It measures about across and about from north to south. The sea was named after the Dutch explorer Abel Janszoon Tasman, who in 1642 wa ...

Taxonomy

George Robert Gray George Robert Gray (8 July 1808 – 6 May 1872) was an English zoology, zoologist and author, and head of the Ornithology, ornithological section of the British Museum, now the Natural History Museum, London, Natural History Museum, London f ...

described the Norfolk parakeet in 1859 as ''Platycercus Cookii'', from a specimen in William Bullock's museum, and recorded it as from New Zealand. The species name honours

James Cook Captain (Royal Navy), Captain James Cook (7 November 1728 – 14 February 1779) was a British Royal Navy officer, explorer, and cartographer famous for his three voyages of exploration to the Pacific and Southern Oceans, conducted between 176 ...

, who reported the species on Norfolk Island when he landed there in 1774, noting it was the same as those occurring in New Zealand. In 1862, Gray described a specimen from Norfolk Island as ''Platycercus rayneri'', collected by a Mr Rayner. In 1891, Italian ornithologist

Tommaso Salvadori Count Adelardo Tommaso Salvadori Paleotti (30 September 1835 – 9 October 1923) was an Italian zoologist and ornithologist. Biography Salvadori was born in Porto San Giorgio, son of Count Luigi Salvadori and Ethelyn Welby, who was English. His ...

confirmed the two taxa as

synonymous A synonym is a word, morpheme, or phrase that means precisely or nearly the same as another word, morpheme, or phrase in a given language. For example, in the English language, the words ''begin'', ''start'', ''commence'', and ''initiate'' are a ...

and coming from Norfolk Island. It was long considered a subspecies of the red-fronted parakeet of

. Ornithologists Alfred North (1893) and Graeme Phipps (1981) noted that the Norfolk parakeet was significantly larger than the red-fronted parakeet. Phipps added that further investigation was needed into their status and conservation. DNA analysis in 2001 showed that it was an early offshoot from the other parakeets in the genus ''Cyanoramphus'', with only the New Caledonian and

Chatham parakeet The Chatham Islands parakeet (''Cyanoramphus forbesi''), also known as Forbes' parakeet, is a rare parakeet endemic to the Chatham Islands group, New Zealand. This parakeet is one of New Zealand's rarest birds and is classified as vulnerable spe ...

more divergent. "Norfolk parakeet" has been designated the official name by the

International Ornithologists' Union The International Ornithologists' Union (IOU) is an international organization for the promotion of ornithology Ornithology, from Ancient Greek ὄρνις (''órnis''), meaning "bird", and -logy from λόγος (''lógos''), meaning "study", ...

(IOC). It is also known as Norfolk Island green parrot, and locally as green parrot. The name "Tasman parakeet" is used by ornithologists Les Christidis and Walter Boles on the argument that this species and the

Lord Howe red-crowned parakeet The Lord Howe parakeet (''Cyanoramphus subflavescens''), also known as the Lord Howe red-fronted parakeet, is an extinction, extinct parrot endemism, endemic to Lord Howe Island in the Tasman Sea, part of New South Wales, Australia. It was desc ...

(''Cyanoramphus novaezelandiae subflavescens'') are probably a single species for which they use biogeographical arguments. Tasman is used for other species with the same distribution and they propose that name for that reason. However, the latter subspecies was not included in the genus-wide phylogenetic reconstruction using DNA sequences, and the lumping of the species should be considered tentative.

Distribution and habitat

Originally found throughout Norfolk Island (to which it is

), it vanished from much of its range until by 1908 it was restricted to forest around Mount Pitt in the northwestern corner of the Island. Its natural

habitat In ecology, habitat refers to the array of resources, biotic factors that are present in an area, such as to support the survival and reproduction of a particular species. A species' habitat can be seen as the physical manifestation of its ...

s are native rain

forest A forest is an ecosystem characterized by a dense ecological community, community of trees. Hundreds of definitions of forest are used throughout the world, incorporating factors such as tree density, tree height, land use, legal standing, ...

, from which it ventures into surrounding

plantation Plantations are farms specializing in cash crops, usually mainly planting a single crop, with perhaps ancillary areas for vegetables for eating and so on. Plantations, centered on a plantation house, grow crops including cotton, cannabis, tob ...

s and orchards.

Diet

Seeds make up over half the Norfolk parakeet's diet, particularly in winter. Five species make up 85% of its diet, including the Norfolk pine ('' Araucaria heterophylla''), niau palm ('' Rhopalostylis baueri''), ake ake (''

Dodonaea viscosa ''Dodonaea viscosa'', also known as the broadleaf hopbush, is a species of flowering plant in the ''Dodonaea'' (hopbush) genus that has a cosmopolitan distribution in Tropics, tropical, Subtropics, subtropical and warm temperate regions of Africa ...

''), as well as the introduced African olive ( ''Olea europaea'' subsp. ''cuspidata'') and cherry guava (''

Psidium cattleyanum ''Psidium cattleyanum'' (World Plants: ''Psidium cattleianum''), commonly known as Cattley guava, strawberry guava or cherry guava, is a small tree ( tall) in the Myrtaceae (myrtle) family. The species is named in honour of English horticulturis ...

'').

Threats

Once a common species, the Norfolk parakeet had dwindled to under 50 birds by the late 1970s. Factors contributing to its decline include

habitat loss Habitat destruction (also termed habitat loss or habitat reduction) occurs when a natural habitat is no longer able to support its native species. The organisms once living there have either moved elsewhere, or are dead, leading to a decrease ...

, particularly of large old trees with suitable hollows for breeding, killing of eggs and young by rats and cats, shooting by early settlers, and competition for nest sites by introduced crimson rosellas and common starlings. In 1983 a captive breeding program was commenced. Although it was not successful, it sparked interest in the bird's fate in the people of Norfolk Island. Between 1987 and 2000, a concerted effort to reduce rat and cat populations by trapping, and construction of nesting boxes designed to keep out rats increased parrot numbers, with around 250 young fledged. However, numbers of Norfolk parakeets were difficult to assess and concern was raised between 2009 and 2012 that it might be declining again. A census in 2009 estimated a count of 240 birds. It is only found in Norfolk Island National Park and the surrounding area.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q1066559 Birds of Norfolk Island Cyanoramphus Endangered fauna of Australia Birds described in 1859 Parakeets Taxa named by George Robert Gray Taxonomy articles created by Polbot Taxobox binomials not recognized by IUCN