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Little Lorikeet (Glossopsitta pusilla) Alternate name(s): "Little Keet", "Jerryang", "Green Parakeet" Aboriginal name(s): "jerriang" Size: 15-19 cm; wing span: 28-32 cm Body mass: 30-53 g Wing loading [g/cm2]: 0.25-0.30

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Similar species

Description     Classification     Distribution     Sightings     Photos     Breeding     Nest     Eggs     Behaviour     Food     Call/s

Physical description Click here for a physical description As the name already suggests, Little Lorikeets are small lorikeets. Except for their scarlet faces (frons, lores and throat) and a light-brown mantle, they are all-green, with a darker shade of green on the back and upperwings than the front. The underwings show green coverts and dark-brown flight feathers. The undertail is orange. The bill and irises are black; the legs and feet are dark-grey.

Taxonomy, classification See Little Lorikeet at Wikipedia .

Range, habitat, finding this species Click here for information on habitat and range The overall distribution of this species can be assessed, and specific locations where birds have been spotted can be found, based on individual sighting reports submitted by birdwatchers to ebird.org . The global distribution of the Little Lorikeet is available HERE . Little Lorikeets are endemic to Australia. They populate most of the East coast of Australia and the hinterland behind it, i.e. the Great Dividing Range, from about Cairns, QLD in the North to the SA/VIC border in the South. Occasionally they are also found as far to the West as about Adelaide, SA. They are not found anywhere further inland than the western slopes of the Great Dividing Range. Little Lorikeets have a preference for contiguous open forest, often with tall eucalypts. They have a particular liking for Swamp Mahogany, when in flower. Where to look? How to find this species? Little Lorikeets are less "urbanised" than their larger and stronger cousins. The best approach to finding them is to look for flowering eucalypts. in woodland or forest, mostly in or near the Great Dividing Range of Australia.

Sightings Click here for sighting information Little Lorikeets are hard to spot, because quick and small. They were first spotted by us in April 2006, 30 km North of Coonabarabran, NSW. They were found by us to be nesting there and seen again at the same location in subsequent years. A pair came to explore the area of Eulah Creek, 20 km East of Narrabri, in March 2007, but did not stay. In October 2008 we spotted two birds in bushland 15 km East of Narrabri. We see them flying over quite regularly, but infrequently, and always at a height of about 30 m or more, above the crowns of the tallest trees in the area. The species was also spotted by us on the western edge of Mt. Kaputar NP, in Deriah Aboriginal Area, 30 km East of Narrabri, in April 2008, where we have found them regularly since then. In December 2008 large numbers (probably hundreds) of Little Lorikeets were found 20-30 km West of Barraba, NSW, feeding in "Apple trees" (a type of eucalypt) that were flowering at the time. These trees are also often frequented by Red Wattlebirds - but none of those were around at the time. In June 2011 a large number (possibly 50 or more) Little Lorikeets were seen in bushland about 5 km East of Morisset, NSW. In June 2011, 20-30 Little Lorikeets were found by us at Dungowan, NSW, feeding in box gums in flower. C. Hayne reports having spotted Little Lorikeets in Moree, NSW, only once so far, in November 2011. M. Eaton reports finding Little Lorikeets at Durikai SF, near Warwick, QLD, in August 2017, and at Sandy Camp Road Wetlands, Brisbane, QLD, in February 2020. Another was found at Gold Scrub Lane, Samsonvale, QLD, in May 2020.

Photos

ADULT

PAIR

Pair of Little Lorikeets exploring a potential nest hollow (photo courtesy of P. Spark)
[Near Barraba, NSW, October 2014]

Pair of Little Lorikeets in a eucalypt tree; probably the male is on the left (the bird "showing" the hollow), the female on the right (the bird sent in to "inspect" the hollow)
[Near Coonabarabran, NSW, October 2013]

Pair of Little Lorikeets in a eucalypt tree
[Near Coonabarabran, NSW, October 2013]

Sex unknown

Frontal view of a Little Lorikeet
[Timmallallie NP, NSW, October 2015]

Frontal view of a Little Lorikeet - note how, when the facial mask is hidden, they can easily be mistaken for Musk Lorikeets
[Eulah Creek, NSW, May 2026]

Near-frontal/ventral view of a Little Lorikeet leaning sideways (photo courtesy of M. Eaton)
[Gold Scrub Lane, Samsonvale, QLD, May 2020]

Near-lateral view of a Little Lorikeet
[Timmallallie NP, NSW, October 2015]

Close-up lateral view of a Little Lorikeet in a eucalypt
[Eulah Creek, NSW, June 2026]

Lateral view of a Little Lorikeet
[Timmallallie NP, NSW, October 2015]

Lateral/ventral view of a Little Lorikeet
[Mt. Kaputar NP, NSW, September 2023]

Dorsal view of a Little Lorikeet
[Timmallallie NP, NSW, October 2015]

Breeding information

Breeding season: Aug - Nov

Eggs: 3 - 5

Incubation period: 20 days

Fledging age: 35 - 42 days

Lorikeets are sociable creatures which often nest in loose colonies, also in conjunction with other species.

Nest

"bungobittah", "lar", "malunna", "jindi" [bundjalung] = nest [Aboriginal]

Type: Tree hollow

Material: Scraped wood

Height above ground: 5 - 20 m

Surprisingly, Little Lorikeets choose nesting hollows with openings from above, not necessarily sideways.

The entrance to the nesting hollow chosen by this pair of Little Lorikeets is so narrow that the birds must squeeze their bodies through the opening; this ensures that bigger, more powerful, competitors cannot use this hollow in a eucalypt tree
[Near Coonabarabran, NSW, October 2013]

Dorsal view of a Little Lorikeet nibbling on the bark at the base of a hollow in a casuarina; it is not known to us whether is was removing bark to smoothe the entrance to a potential nest hollow or whether there may have been sap to feed on
[Mt. Kaputar NP, NSW, September 2023]

Eggs

"boyanga", "booyanga", "derinya", "dirandil", "koomura", "mirk", "ngampu", "nooluk", "pateena", "pum-pum" = Egg; "dirundirri" = eggs [Aboriginal]; "gawu" = eggs [gamilaraay]

Size: 21 x 17 mm

Colour: White

Shape: Rounded

Behaviour

Social behaviour: Communal

Mobility: Dispersive

Elementary unit: Mob/flock

Like other species of parrots, Little Lorikeets are very sociable birds.

One peculiarity of their behaviour is that they, contrary to the habits of many other parrot species, usually fly high - above the canopy of forest, not in between trees, i.e. under the cover of the tree crowns.

All parrots and cockatoos known to us prefer to clamber from branch to branch in a tree crown, rather than fly. Below an example:

Little Lorikeet using its bill as a "grappling hook" while clambering from one twig to another
[Eulah Creek, NSW, May 2026]

Since, as is the case for many other parrot species, female Little Lorikeets take on the incubation duties, they rely on the males to feed them. Therefore, males prove their mettle in a bonding ritual, by feeding their partners before they are allowed to mate.

Male Little Lorikeet feeding its partner at the entrance to their selected nest hollow in a bonding ritual
[Near Coonabarabran, NSW, October 2013]

Food, Diet

Little Lorikeets feed primarily on nectar, but we have seen them take lerps as well.

View onto the back of a Little Lorikeet taking nectar from an ironbark eucalypt
[Eulah Creek, NSW, October 2024]

Little Lorikeet taking nectar from an Angophora eucalypt (photo courtesy of M. Fleming)
[Near Baradine, NSW, January 2021]

Little Lorikeet taking nectar (photo courtesy of M. Eaton)
[Sandy Camp Road Wetlands, Brisbane, QLD, February 2020]

Little Lorikeet taking nectar (photo courtesy of M. Eaton)
[Sandy Camp Road Wetlands, Brisbane, QLD, February 2020]

Little Lorikeet taking nectar (photo courtesy of M. Eaton)
[Sandy Camp Road Wetlands, Brisbane, QLD, February 2020]

This Little Lorikeet appears to be licking sap from the bark of a casuarina
[Timmallallie NP, NSW, October 2015]

Distant ventral view of a Little Lorikeet taking lerps from the underside of a eucalypt leaf
[Mt. Kaputar NP, NSW, August 2019]

Presumably in lean times, when there is not much nectar to go round, Little Lorikeets, being the smallest of the lorikeets in northern inland NSW, have to do with "the dregs", i.e. fainting flowers that other, dominant nectarivores, such as various honeyeaters or the bigger lorikeets, don't consider worth visiting any longer. In detail, this is difficult to see, but it shows as a chronological order. The stronger nectarivores come first and dominate the food source, and when it is almost exhausted, the smaller species are left to pick up the leftovers.

Near-frontal view of a Little Lorikeet visiting fading, almost spent flowers of a eucalypt
[Eulah Creek, NSW, May 2026]

Near-lateral view of a Little Lorikeet visiting fading, almost spent flowers of a eucalypt
[Eulah Creek, NSW, May 2026]

Lateral view of a Little Lorikeet taking nectar from fading, almost spent flowers of a eucalypt
[Eulah Creek, NSW, May 2026]

View onto the back of a Little Lorikeet taking nectar from fading, almost spent flowers of a eucalypt
[Eulah Creek, NSW, May 2026]

In this case, the eucalypt flower has no petals any more, only the style remains
[Eulah Creek, NSW, June 2026]

Call(s)/Song

For this species we have recorded the following call(s)/song. The interpretation of their meaning is our own; comments and suggestions for improvement are welcome.

litlori_20190804_5.m4a	(NW NSW)	Contact call	© MD
litlori_20221003.mp3	(NW NSW)	Contact calls (in-flight)	© MD
litlori_20190804.m4a	(NW NSW)	Contact calls (in-flight)	© MD
litlori_20150905.m4a	(NW NSW)	Contact calls (in-flight)	© MD
litlori_20190804_2.m4a	(NW NSW)	Warning/departure (pair)	© MD
litlori_20260529.m4a	(NW NSW)	Alarm/departure (pair)	© MD
litlori_20190101.m4a	(NW NSW)	Group feeding in eucalypt	© MD
litlori_20170903_3.m4a	(NW NSW)	Various (feeding in eucalypt)	© MD
litlori_20190804_4.m4a	(NW NSW)	Various (in-flight)	© MD
litlori_20210409.m4a	(NW NSW)	Various (mob flying over)	© MD

More Little Lorikeet sound recordings are available at xeno-canto.org .

These pages are largely based on our own observations and those of our contributors. The structure of these bird pages is explained HERE. For more salient facts on any bird species please refer to a field guide.

Would you like to contribute photos or sound recordings to this site? If interested, please CLICK HERE. Credits to contributors are given HERE.