CreatureData

Northern rosella

Platycercus venustus (Kuhl, 1820)

LCLeast Concernparrots

The northern rosella (Platycercus venustus) is a species in the family Psittaculidae, order Psittaciformes. Recorded adults weigh 86.4 g to 92.6 g and live up to 19.1 years. Source checklists list it for 1 country: Australia. Its IUCN Red List status is Least Concern.

Northern rosella (Platycercus venustus)
Photo: FNature · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Quick facts about the northern rosella

Weight
86.4 g – 92.6 gsrc for Weight
Length
Not recorded
Lifespan
19.1 yearssrc for Lifespan
Diet
Granivoresrc for Diet
Main food
Not recorded
Habitat
woodlandsrc for Habitat
Egg incubation
20 dayssrc for Egg incubation
Young per litter or clutch
2.8 – 3.25src for Young per litter or clutch
Age at maturity
11.9 monthssrc for Age at maturity
Lifestyle
Perchingsrc for Lifestyle
Migration
Sedentarysrc for Migration
Conservation status
Least Concern (IUCN)src for Conservation status
Countries on record
1 countrysrc for Countries on record

Where does the northern rosella live?

Countries where Catalogue of Life checklists list the species. Many checklists carry no country data, so the list is often incomplete. It is not a range map.

The northern rosella is listed for 1 country.

Australia
  • Listed
  • Not listed
small islands are not drawn at this scale

The same countries as a list

  1. Australia

Why a country list is not a range map

Listed by: ITIS (scope: global), through the Catalogue of Life.

What is the northern rosella?

Quoted from WikipediaCC BY-SA 4.0

The northern rosella (Platycercus venustus), formerly known as Brown's rosella or the smutty rosella, is a species of parrot native to northern Australia, ranging from the Gulf of Carpentaria and Arnhem Land to the Kimberley. It was described by Heinrich Kuhl in 1820, and two subspecies are recognised. The species is unusually coloured for a rosella, with a dark head and neck with pale cheeks—predominantly white in the subspecies from the Northern Territory and blue in the Western Australian subspecies hillii. The northern rosella's mantle and scapulars are black with fine yellow scallops, while its back, rump and underparts are pale yellow with fine black scallops. The long tail is blue-green, and the wings are black and blue-violet. The sexes have similar plumage, while females and younger birds are generally duller with occasional spots of red.

Found in woodland and open savanna country, the northern rosella is predominantly herbivorous, consuming seeds, particularly of grasses and eucalypts, as well as flowers and berries, but it may also eat insects. Nesting takes place in tree hollows. Although uncommon, the northern rosella is rated as least concern on the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN)'s Red List of Threatened Species.

From the Wikipedia article “Northern rosella” (en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Northern_rosella&oldid=1328744419), by Wikipedia contributors, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0 (creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0). This block is kept separate from our own text.

Is the northern rosella endangered?

The northern rosella is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List: it is not currently at risk of extinction.

  1. LCLeast Concern
  2. NTNear Threatened
  3. VUVulnerable
  4. ENEndangered
  5. CRCritically Endangered
  6. EWExtinct in the Wild
  7. EXExtinct

Category via Wikidata (CC0). Find the full assessment on the IUCN Red List. See all Least Concern species. What the categories mean.

How is the northern rosella classified?

  1. kingdomAnimalia
  2. phylumChordata
  3. classAves
  4. orderPsittaciformes
  5. familyPsittaculidae
  6. genusPlatycercus
  7. SpeciesPlatycercus venustus (Kuhl, 1820)

Synonyms Platycercus vanustus, Psittacus venustus

Other names and names in other languages (38)
  • روزلة شماليةArabic
  • cotorra encaputxadaCatalan
  • rosela černohlaváCzech
  • rosela’r GogleddWelsh
  • Nordlig RosellaDanish
  • BrownsittichGerman
  • SchwarzkopfsittichGerman
  • norda rozelpapagoEsperanto
  • Perico graciosoSpanish
  • Rosella del NorteSpanish
  • mustpea-rosellapapagoiEstonian
  • suomurosellaFinnish
  • Perruche gracieuseFrench
  • Platycerque gracieuxFrench
  • crnoglava rozelaCroatian
  • feketefejű rozellaHungarian
  • feketefejű rozellapapagájHungarian
  • Rosella settentrionaleItalian
  • ズグロサメクサインコJapanese
  • juodagalvė rozelaLithuanian
  • Шим вуян розеллаWestern Mari
  • ZwartkoprosellaDutch
  • svarthetterosellaNorwegian
  • rozella żółtawaPolish
  • اتلی رنگرتیWestern Panjabi
  • rosela-do-nortePortuguese
  • periquito-graciosoPortuguese
  • Черноголовая розеллаRussian
  • rozela čiernohlaváSlovak
  • Crnoglava braon rozelaSerbian
  • svarthättad rosellaSwedish
  • Kuzeyli RozellaTurkish
  • Kuzey yassıkuyruğuTurkish
  • розела золотистаUkrainian
  • Розела чорноголоваUkrainian
  • 北方玫瑰鸚鵡Chinese
  • 北澳玫瑰鹦鹉Chinese
  • 澳北玫瑰鸚鵡Chinese

Catalogue of LifeWikipediaiNaturalistWikidataIUCN Red List

Relatives of the northern rosella

Other species in the same genus Platycercus.

LC, Least Concern
Green rosella (Platycercus caledonicus)

Green rosella

Platycercus caledonicus

Psittaculidae

CompareNorthern rosella vs Crimson rosellaNorthern rosella vs Eastern rosellaNorthern rosella vs Pale-headed rosellaNorthern rosella vs Green rosella

Common questions

Answered only where our data holds the answer.

How big is the northern rosella?

An adult northern rosella weighs 86.4 g – 92.6 g, according to values recorded on Wikidata.

Where does the northern rosella live?

Catalogue of Life checklists list the northern rosella for 1 country: Australia. Checklist coverage is uneven, so the true range may be wider.

Is the northern rosella endangered?

The northern rosella is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List, meaning it is not currently at risk of extinction.

How long does the northern rosella live?

The northern rosella has a recorded lifespan of 19.1 years.

What kind of animal is the northern rosella?

The northern rosella (Platycercus venustus) belongs to the family Psittaculidae in the order Psittaciformes.

Sources and how to cite this page

Data as of 2026-11-11. How this page is put together.

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APA

CreatureData. (2026). Northern rosella (Platycercus venustus). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/northern-rosella

MLA

“Northern rosella (Platycercus venustus).” CreatureData, 2026, https://creaturedata.com/animals/northern-rosella.

BibTeX
@misc{northern_rosella_2026,
  title = {Northern rosella (Platycercus venustus)},
  author = {{CreatureData}},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://creaturedata.com/animals/northern-rosella},
  note = {Data as of 2026-11-11}
}