Its plumage is black, with greyish scaling to the chest, and a red belly, uppertail coverts and wing-panels.

[3] Compared to most other parrots it appears unusually small-headed, in part due to the bare black facial skin and the relatively long, hooked bill, an adaptation for its fruit-based diet.

[4] Pesquet's parrot is a highly specialised frugivore, feeding almost exclusively on a few species of figs.

The bare part of the head is presumably an adaptation to avoid feather-matting from sticky fruits.

For these reasons, it is evaluated as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.