The colouration of the two Pezoporus species and the kākāpō is similar – yellowish green with darker barring, somewhat reminiscent of the head and back of the wild-type budgerigar.

The presence of the bird is often only revealed by its characteristic dusk and dawn call, a clear whistling sequence of notes which rise in pitch before fading.

Juveniles can be differentiated from adults in that they are slightly smaller, have duller yellow-olive plumage, absent red bands and thicker, bolder markings on the head and breast.

However, due to minimal morphological differences between the two and the split being based only on a single mitochondrial gene, the two are now considered to be conspecific and are only recognised as separate subspecies.

Subspecies wallicus, the eastern ground parrot, occurs in fragmented populations in coastal areas of south-eastern Queensland, New South Wales and Victoria.

[5][10] The eastern ground parrot occurs mainly in dry or moist coastal heathland or sedgeland with a dense foliage cover and a high density of favoured food plants.

[8][11] It inhabits low, dry or swampy heathland near the coast, usually in areas that have been unburnt for long periods of time.

[8] Subspecies leachi, the Tasmanian ground parrot, is endemic to Tasmania, which hosts the largest population of the species as a whole.

[1][12] The breeding season of the ground parrot generally occurs from July to December, though eggs have also been recorded in March.

Its last confirmed sighting in South Australia was in Port MacDonnell in January 1945[5] The species is listed in "Appendix I" by CITES.