CreatureData

Swift parrot

Lathamus discolor (Shaw, 1790)

CRCritically Endangeredparrots

The swift parrot (Lathamus discolor) is a species in the family Psittaculidae, order Psittaciformes. Recorded adults weigh 64 g to 64.7 g. Source checklists list it for 1 country: Australia. Its IUCN Red List status is Critically Endangered.

Swift parrot (Lathamus discolor)
Photo: Charles J. Sharp · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Quick facts about the swift parrot

Weight
64.7 gsrc for Weight
Length
Not recorded
Lifespan
Not recorded
Diet
Nectarivoresrc for Diet
Main food
Not recorded
Habitat
forestsrc for Habitat
Egg incubation
20 dayssrc for Egg incubation
Young per litter or clutch
3.9 – 4.23src for Young per litter or clutch
Lifestyle
Perchingsrc for Lifestyle
Migration
Migratorysrc for Migration
Conservation status
Critically Endangered (IUCN)src for Conservation status
Countries on record
1 countrysrc for Countries on record

Where does the swift parrot 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 swift parrot 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

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

What is the swift parrot?

Quoted from WikipediaCC BY-SA 4.0

The swift parrot (Lathamus discolor), also known by the palawa kani name swift waylitja, is a species of broad-tailed parrot, found only in southeastern Australia. The species breeds in Tasmania during the summer and migrates north to southeastern mainland Australia from Griffith-Warialda in New South Wales and west to Adelaide in the winter. It is a nomadic migrant, and it settles in an area only when there is food available. The Swift Parrot was voted 2023 Bird of the Year in The Guardian Australia and BirdLife Australia's biennial poll.

The species is critically endangered, and the severe predation by introduced sugar gliders (Petaurus breviceps) on breeding females and nests in some locations has demonstrated an unexpected but potentially serious new threat. Genetic evidence for the effective population size suggests that the minimum potential population size is now around 300–500 individual swift parrots. This supports the results of earlier studies that use demographic information about swift parrots to predict that the species could be extinct by 2031.

Habitat for the critically endangered swift parrot is being "knowingly destroyed" by logging because of government failures to manage the species' survival.

From the Wikipedia article “Swift parrot” (en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Swift_parrot&oldid=1380335370), 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 swift parrot endangered?

The swift parrot is listed as Critically Endangered on the IUCN Red List: it faces an extremely high risk of extinction in the wild.

  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 Critically Endangered species.

How is the swift parrot classified?

  1. kingdomAnimalia
  2. phylumChordata
  3. classAves
  4. orderPsittaciformes
  5. familyPsittaculidae
  6. genusLathamus
  7. SpeciesLathamus discolor (Shaw, 1790)

Synonyms Lathamus discolor tregellasi, Lathamus gmelini, Psittacus australis, Psittacus discolor

Other names and names in other languages (38)
  • ببغاء السمامةArabic
  • Бързолетов папагалBulgarian
  • latham vlaštovčíCzech
  • papoušek vlaštovčíCzech
  • Parot chwimWelsh
  • SvaleparakitDanish
  • SchwalbensittichGerman
  • hirunda papagoEsperanto
  • Periquito migradorSpanish
  • õiepapagoiEstonian
  • طوطی تیزپرPersian
  • tasmaniankaijaFinnish
  • Kakariki de LathamFrench
  • Perruche de LathamFrench
  • srpokrila papigaCroatian
  • fecskepapagájHungarian
  • Pappagallo di LathamItalian
  • Parrocchetto di LathamItalian
  • オトメインコJapanese
  • čiurlinė papūgaLithuanian
  • Цӹгӓк статян попугайWestern Mari
  • Tsídii yáłtiʼí tseentélí bizééʼ halchíʼígííNavajo
  • ZwaluwpapegaaiDutch
  • svaleparakittNorwegian
  • papużka ostrosternaPolish
  • ترکھا طوطاWestern Panjabi
  • periquito-migradorPortuguese
  • periquito-andorinhaPortuguese
  • Ласточковый попугайRussian
  • Ласточковый попугайчикRussian
  • loriovec lastovičíSlovak
  • Lastavičasti papagajSerbian
  • seglarparakitSwedish
  • Göçmen PapağanTurkish
  • папужка червоногорлийUkrainian
  • guriyayilxdk
  • 雨燕鸚鵡Chinese
  • 红尾绿鹦鹉Chinese

Catalogue of LifeWikipediaiNaturalistWikidataIUCN Red List

Relatives of the swift parrot

Other species in the same family Psittaculidae.

LC, Least Concern
Budgerigar (Melopsittacus undulatus)

Budgerigar

Melopsittacus undulatus

Psittaculidae

CompareSwift parrot vs BudgerigarSwift parrot vs Rose-ringed parakeetSwift parrot vs Rosy-faced lovebirdSwift parrot vs Alexandrine parakeet

Common questions

Answered only where our data holds the answer.

How big is the swift parrot?

An adult swift parrot weighs 64.7 g, according to values recorded on Wikidata.

Where does the swift parrot live?

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

Is the swift parrot endangered?

The swift parrot is listed as Critically Endangered on the IUCN Red List, meaning it faces an extremely high risk of extinction in the wild.

What kind of animal is the swift parrot?

The swift parrot (Lathamus discolor) 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). Swift parrot (Lathamus discolor). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/swift-parrot

MLA

“Swift parrot (Lathamus discolor).” CreatureData, 2026, https://creaturedata.com/animals/swift-parrot.

BibTeX
@misc{swift_parrot_2026,
  title = {Swift parrot (Lathamus discolor)},
  author = {{CreatureData}},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://creaturedata.com/animals/swift-parrot},
  note = {Data as of 2026-11-11}
}