The King’s flight call is a scratchy brassy ‘Chack! Chack!’ and only the male lets out a long drawn out ringing ‘creee’ or sweee’. Both the male and female let out a harsh screeching alarm call if predators are around or if they get a scare. These are shrill double notes and a high pitched shriek. Despite this, these parrots are not noisy and can be peacefully kept in a suburban backyard. This is in stark contrast to other similarly sized parrots, particularly those from South America.
As well as their unmarked bright scarlet red head and body, a particular feature that I look for in a King Parrot are the “zeds” (iridescent light green stripes) that appear on their wings. These provide a great contrast in the wing colour and I endeavour to obtain and breed Kings that display this attractive marking larger than normal. These “zeds” are most prevalent in the cock bird, however, a number of my hens also show this striking feature. Another aspect of the King’s appearance is that some have a flatter shaped head than the more rounded head which is much more appealing to the eye.
 |
| Australian King Parrot |
Personality
Aviary bred Kings (and wild ones) tend to be highly strung and easily stressed. When they believe they are in danger, they are inclined to panic and not settle as quickly as other parrots that I have kept.
Observations
The King Parrot has a preference for rainforest and wetter eucalypt woodland areas; it also has a strong preference for the wet scrub areas where it is found in pairs or families. I believe the Kings have an affinity with water. Australian King Parrots seem to be mainly territorial and tend to remain within a quite small area. They congregate at communal roosts at dusk but scatter in pairs or small groups to forage in the early morning. They seldom form large flocks and the only time I have seen King Parrots in large flocks is in late
autumn and these were mainly young birds seen close to the mountain ranges near Toowoomba.
In the wild, King Parrots eat seeds, fruit, berries, wild tobacco, eucalyptus nuts and buds and also honey and insects. They are reluctant to feed on the ground; however, if they do there will be at least one sentinel bird on the look out for danger. Kings, being a wary bird, always fly quickly to cover and if crossing a river, it will be at the narrowest part of the river, generally, where the densest trees are. When a bird in the bush lets out an alarm call while the Kings are flying, they will suddenly fly erratically with twists and sudden changes in directions and let out a high pitched shriek.
Overseas
The Australian King Parrot has always been much sought after in Europe and my interest in them has led me to Europe where I have visited other aviculturists in Holland and Denmark who keep King Parrots and their mutations. I noticed that some appeared smaller than those that we keep. Maybe this is because the gene pool is smaller or from inbreeding to achieve mutations - probably a mixture of both has contributed to this. I believe that this is something to be monitored here so that 15 to 20 years down the track we will be producing mutations that remain healthy and of a high quality.
One point that the Europeans mentioned about the Australian King Parrot is that it seems to be a very hardy bird when it comes to coping with moist and cold conditions. The aviculturists who I spoke to said that other parrots, such as Amazons, tended to keep to the more enclosed areas of the aviaries when the temperature dropped below zero – the Aussie Kings being the only ones that venture to the outside aviaries!
 |
| King Parrots |
Another observation was that for some reason the King Parrots in Europe, don’t appear to suffer from any of the protozoans diseases that they can contract here, probably due to the enclosed environment of their aviaries which protects them from contact with wild birds. Australian Kings are not appreciated in Australia as much as they are overseas; in fact, I feel there is still so much to learn about our Australian King Parrot.
This is partly because they are so easily obtained in this country, either legally or through trapping, that if one dies they are not taken to a qualified vet to autopsy them and determine the exact cause of death, which would lead to greater knowledge and better practices in the future.
Housing
Many of our Kings Parrot are kept in suspendeds which are fully covered by insulated ceilings 25mm thick polystyrene sandwiched between the roof and fibro. This stops the birds from contracting diseases from wild
birds and also protects them against extreme heat in summer. In fact, before installing this type of roofing I once lost a hen that overheated when she refused to leave the nest box as she didn’t want to abandon her chicks. I have found that building this type of roof can be done economically by sourcing off-cuts of the polystyrene. I also have free flight aviary with a floor which is made of grated metal mesh. Most bird fanciers
who have bred King Parrots know the Kings are susceptible to worms and treat accordingly with their preferred worming solution. Whenever I’ve had my Kings checked by vets or myself, no worms have ever been detected. This is most likely because the of the mesh floors of our aviaries.
Diet
Sunflower seed, corn, sorghum, wheat, barley, oats hulled or clipped, white French millet, safflower, and plain canary seed, with a touch of linseed. I also supply them with corn on the cob, celery, broccoli, carrots, washed potatoes, red apples, passion fruit, pumpkin (skin and seeds), kiwi fruit, eucalyptus pod’s (gum nuts)
seeds or flowers when available. I never use lettuce or silver beat. Two of the favourites of the King
Parrots are chick weed and mung bean sprouts- they love them!
