Last updated: February 2025
The Critically Endangered Swift Parrot is one of just three migratory parrots on earth, breeding in Tasmania before migrating across Bass Strait to the mainland.
Contact calls commonly heard in flight are a loud, distinctive ‘pip-pip-pip’, commonly heard when birds burst from the canopy. Soft chattering can also be heard during flight or when feeding. Bird call recorded by: Fred Van Gessel
The Swift Parrot is a slim, medium-sized parrot with a streamlined shape in flight, angular pointed wings and a long, pointed maroon-red tail. The body is mostly bright green, with narrow, crimson red markings bordered by yellow running from the forehead to the throat, a violet blue patch on the crown, and soft teal extending from in front of the eye and across the cheek. Vivid red markings also appear on the shoulders, transitioning to a deep blue moving down the wing.
The female is slightly duller than males, with a subtle creamy underwing bar and dull red on the undertail coverts.
In flight, the bright green body, dark flight feathers and scarlet underwing coverts are prominent. They are noisy, active and showy, with a very fast, direct flight.
Swift Parrots are migratory birds, endemic to south-eastern Australia. They breed in Tasmania in the warmer months, and in the cooler months migrate across Bass Strait where they are generally restricted to Victoria, ACT and New South Wales, with infrequent visits to south-eastern Queensland in some years. The species was once an annual visitor to South Australia, but is now rarely recorded in that part of its range.
Habitat: Woodland, Forest, Grassland, Urban
Swift Parrots are typically found in dry sclerophyll forests and woodlands but can also be found in suburban parks and gardens where suitable feed trees occur. In Tasmania, they are closely associated with flowering Tasmanian Blue Gum Eucalyptus globulus when actively breeding.
Swift Parrots breed only in Tasmania before flying across Bass Strait to spend the cooler months foraging in dry sclerophyll forests and woodlands of the Australian mainland.
While on the mainland, they are nomadic, spending weeks or months at some sites, and only a few hours at others depending on food availability.
Swifties are almost always heard before they are seen, often bursting from the trees at-speed in full voice. They will come to the ground to drink, but seldomly to forage. They also roost communally, often returning to the same tree(s) each night for extended periods.
Swift Parrots are typically seen feeding in the outer canopy of eucalypts, taking nectar from available blossom, or psyllids and lerp (lerp are waxy, sugar-rich casings created by Psyllids) from the surface of leaves. They can also be seen consuming Native Cherry fruits, Golden Wattle blossom, as well as other seeds and flowers. They are active and agile when feeding, often hanging upside down.
At sites where food is abundant, Swift Parrots can congregate in large flocks and associate with smaller lorikeets and honeyeaters.
Swift Parrots are adapted to travelling far and wide to find available food. In some years birds will fly as far as coastal south-east Queensland, a 4,000+ kilometre round trip, making it the world’s furthest known parrot migration.
Swift Parrots breed only in Tasmania, with active nesting occurring from September to January, coinciding with the flowering of the Tasmanian Blue Gum, but also Black Gum and Brooker’s Gum.
They nest in tree hollows found in the trunk, branch or spout of a living or dead gum. Pairs often breed in loose colonies, sometimes even closer together with multiple nests in one tree and may return to the same nest site on a rotational basis when sufficient food is available locally.
Swift Parrots typically begin arriving back in Tasmania from the mainland in August, with the vast majority of the population typically completing this journey by end of October.
NSW – Endangered QLD – Endangered SA – Endangered TAS – Endangered VIC – Critically Endangered ACT – Critically Endangered WA – Not present NT – Not present
Long-term monitoring shows that the Swift Parrot population is in a perilous decline. Recent research suggests there could be as few as 500 birds remaining in the wild. At this rate, Swift Parrots could become extinct by 2031.
Sightings are critical to scientific knowledge and conservation of the Swift Parrot. Find out how you can take part in our Swift Parrot Search.
