Australian Ringnecks

ParrotsParrots Index Australian Ringnecks Bluebonnet Bourke’s Parrot Budgerigar Cockatiel Galah Little Corella Pink Cockatoo Mallee Ringneck Mulga Parrot Port Lincoln Ringneck Purple-crowned Lorikeet Rainbow Lorikeet Red-collared Lorikeet Red-tailed Black Cockatoo Sulphur-crested Cockatoo Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoo

A medium to large parrot, the Australian Ringneck (Barnardius zonarius) is native to Australia. Whilst they differ in size and plumage across the different regions, they are unmistakeable being mostly green with a yellow hind collar.

In Western Australia, the ringneck competes for nesting space with the rainbow lorikeet, an introduced species. To protect the ringneck, culls of the lorikeet are sanctioned by authorities in this region. Overall, though, the ringneck is not a threatened species.

There are several different forms of the Australian Ringneck in the genus Barnardius. Once treated as two species, Barnardius zonarius and Barnardius barnardi, due to the ease of interbreeding in their overlapping range, they are now regarded as a single species B. zonarius, under which there are recognised four subspecies.

Whilst they have slightly different appearance, they all have a common feature of the yellow collar that stretches across the hindneck of the bird. In addition to the slight colour variation, the different populations of ringnecks have different sounds, with pronounced regional variation. The subspecies in Western Australia known as the ‘Twenty-eight Parrot’, has a call that is unknown in other parts of Australia.

There are four subspecies of Australian Ringnecks, in two main groups. All subspecies hybridise widely.

• Mallee Ringneck, subspecies barnardi
  has a more varied green and blue body, with more yellow underneath and a red frontal band.
• Cloncurry, subspecies macgillivrayi
  has more yellow and pale turquoise around the face.
• Port Lincoln group
  all have dark hoods and are mainly green. The Port Lincoln Parrot, subspecies zonarius, is green and yellow underneath.
• Twenty Eight Parrot, subspecies semitorquatus
  has a red frontal band and is green underneath. Quiet birds when feeding, when disturbed they fly off with loud alarm calls.

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• Mallee Ringneck (Barnardius zonarius barnardi)
• Port Lincoln Ringneck (Barnardius zonarius)

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• Scientific classification
• Kingdom: Animalia
• Phylum: Chordata
• Class: Aves
• Order: Psittaciformes
• Family: Psittaculidae
• Genus: Barnardius
• Species: B. zonarius
• Binomial name: Barnardius zonarius
• Subspecies:
  • B. z. zonarius
  • B. z. semitorquatus
  • B. z. barnardi
  • B. z. macgillivrayi
    
• Synonyms:
  • Barnardius barnardi

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ParrotsParrots Index Australian Ringnecks Bluebonnet Bourke’s Parrot Budgerigar Cockatiel Galah Little Corella Pink Cockatoo Mallee Ringneck Mulga Parrot Port Lincoln Ringneck Purple-crowned Lorikeet Rainbow Lorikeet Red-collared Lorikeet Red-tailed Black Cockatoo Sulphur-crested Cockatoo Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoo

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