Overview
The Western Ground Parrot (Pezoporus flaviventris), known traditionally as Kyloring, is one of the world’s rarest and most secretive psittacines. Strictly ground-dwelling, this elusive parrot spends its life wandering through dense, sprawling coastal heathlands of southern Western Australia, rarely seen by human eyes except during its brief, haunting dawn and dusk acoustic calling sessions.
Biology and Physical Characteristics
Cloaked in brilliant emerald-green plumage heavily barred and speckled with black and bright yellow, Pezoporus flaviventris is nearly impossible to spot amongst tangled coastal sedges. A distinctive narrow red band crosses its forehead above a horn-colored, downward-curving bill. Unlike arboreal parrots, its legs and toes are elongated with long, straight claws adapted for sprinting swiftly across sandy substrates without taking flight.
Behavior and Ecology
The Western ground parrot lives an almost entirely terrestrial existence, running rapidly through vegetation tunnels and only taking flight when nearly trodden on, flying low in a rapid zigzag pattern before dropping silently back into cover. It feeds on the seeds of hundreds of native heathland plants, especially sedges (Cyperaceae) and proteaceous shrubs. Females nest on the ground, creating a shallow depression concealed beneath a dense bush or sedge clump lined with grass stems.
Conservation and Human Impact
With an estimated wild population hovering around just 150 individuals, the Western ground parrot is evaluated as Critically Endangered. Severe, widespread wildfires driven by climate change represent an immediate existential threat by destroying unburnt heath habitat that requires decades to regenerate. Extensive predator control targeting feral cats and foxes, coupled with translocations to establish insurance populations in national parks, is actively underway to prevent extinction.
Interesting Factoid
Known as ‘the ghost parrot of the heath,’ this bird almost never perches in trees, instead sprinting on the ground like a tiny feathered rodent through thick coastal brush.
Last updated: October 2026