A small lightly built parrot at around 20 cm (7.9 in) long and 40 g (1+1⁄2 oz) in weight, it exhibits sexual dimorphism.

The female is generally duller and paler, with a pale green breast and yellow belly, and lacks the red wing patch.

Found in grasslands and open woodlands dominated by Eucalyptus and Callitris trees, the turquoise parrot feeds mainly on grasses and seeds and occasionally flowers, fruit and scale insects.

Well known around the Sydney district at the time of European settlement in 1788, the turquoise parrot was described by George Shaw as Psittacus pulchellus in 1792.

German naturalist Johann Matthäus Bechstein gave it the scientific name Psittacus edwardsii in 1811, based on François Levaillant's description of the species as la Perruche Edwards in his 1805 work Histoire Naturelle des Perroquets.

[5] William Swainson used Shaw's name in 1823 in his work Zoological Illustrations, noting that it was "impossible to represent this superb little creature in its full beauty".

[8] Italian ornithologist Tommaso Salvadori defined the new genus Neophema in 1891, placing the turquoise parrot within it and giving it its current scientific name.

The male has a bright turquoise-blue face which is darkest on the crown and slightly paler on the lores, cheeks and ear coverts.

The wing appears bright blue with a darker leading edge when folded, with a band of red on the shoulder.

[20] The northern limit of its range is 26° south in southeastern Queensland, around Cooloola, Blackbutt and Chinchilla, extending westwards to the vicinity of St George.

In New South Wales, it is found in a broad band across the central and eastern parts of the state, with its western limits delineated by Moree, Quambone, Hillston, Narrandera and Deniliquin.

[21] Sightings in South Australia are likely to have been the scarlet-chested parrot,[21] the similar appearance of the females leading to confusion and misidentification.

[22] Turquoise parrots are encountered in pairs or small groups consisting of parents and several offspring, though they may congregate into larger flocks of up to 75 predominantly juvenile birds outside the breeding season.

[23] The male perches upright on a tree stump and extends its wings to show off its red and blue markings when courting a female.

[24] Breeding has been reported from Girraween National Park on the New South Wales–Queensland border in the north to Wangaratta and Mallacoota in Victoria.

Observations at Chiltern in Victoria indicated seasonal variation in flock size, with turquoise parrots foraging in groups of 5–30 in winter and 6–8 in spring and summer.

Foraging takes place from early in the morning till late afternoon, with a break between midday and mid-afternoon.

[24] Grass and shrub seeds form the bulk of the diet, and leaves, flowers, fruit and scale insects are also eaten.

[22] The turquoise parrot has been recorded feeding on seeds of various plant species; more commonly consumed items include the fruit of common fringe-myrtle (Calytrix tetragona), seeds and fruit of erect guinea-flower (Hibbertia riparia), daphne heath (Brachyloma daphnoides), seeds of common raspwort (Gonocarpus tetragynus), Geranium species, black-anther flax-lily (Dianella revoluta) and grass species such as the introduced big quaking grass (Briza maxima) and little quaking grass (B. minor) and members of the genus Danthonia,[23] members of the pea genus Dillwynia, and small-leaved beard-heath (Leucopogon microphyllus).

[2] In 1966, a paramyxovirus with some antigenic similarity to Newcastle disease was isolated from the brain of a turquoise parrot in the Netherlands.

[29] Like other members of the genus, the turquoise parrot is highly sensitive to avian paramyxovirus infection.

The species is not listed as "threatened" on the Commonwealth Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999, though a status of near threatened was proposed by Stephen Garnett and Gabriel Crowley in their 2000 work The Action Plan for Australian Birds on account of the significant reduction in distribution.

It dramatically declined in numbers between 1875 and 1895, although rare sightings in western Sydney and the Blue Mountains were recorded in the mid-twentieth century.

[33] Fire-burning regimes may be resulting in the regeneration favouring shrubs rather than grasses, which are the preferred food source for the species.

[35] Initially popular as a caged bird in the 19th century,[36] the turquoise parrot was rarely seen in captivity between 1928 and 1956, the main problem being the high rate of infertile eggs.

[37] Specimens with more prominent orange bellies have been bred, sourced from wild birds in New South Wales and not from breeding with scarlet-chested parrots.