This versatile bird can feed on a variety food items and can be found in many habitat types.

It used to be classified as near threatened as invasive predators had pushed it out of its historical range but it is now at least concern.

They are easiest to identify by their bright yellow-green plumage, and crimson forehead, lores, eye-stripes and front of the crown.

Moreover, the iris of young parakeets starts off as dull black or brown, and becomes increasingly red as they age.

Nowadays, however, most of those mainland populations have disappeared due to predation by introduced species.

On the mainland, this species occurs in large forest blocks in Northland, Coromandel and central North Island.

Couples may or may not stay together after a breeding season, possibly depending on the success of their nesting.

Courtship feeding and other pair bond behaviours begin to take place about two months before laying the eggs, in mid-October.

Throughout the whole nest-building process, the male remains nearby, feeding himself and his mate as well as chasing other parakeets away.

Successful breeding pairs have been seen coming back to the same nesting location the next year.

Nests are mostly found in the holes of large healthy trees, although cavities of other kinds are not excluded.

These include holes in cliffs, cavities amongst the roots of plants, abandoned seabird burrows and manmade structures.

The first couple of days, the chicks are fed a clear viscous liquid brought by the mother.

Nevertheless, their numbers dropped drastically on the mainland due to their vulnerability to introduced species, particularly stoats, rats, and possums.

[14] More recent attempts on Tiritiri Matangi Island, New Zealand from 2004 to 2006 concluded that reintroduction can succeed in areas free of introduced predators.

[15] Recent research conducted on Little Barrier Island, New Zealand, has confirmed the presence of the psittacine beak and feather disease (PBFD) amongst the local red-crowned parakeet population.

Later breeding lines brought up cyan feather colors, similar to budgie phenotypes, although none of these variants can be encountered in the wilderness.