After checking out Red Goshawks and other goodies around Musgrave Roadhouse on Cape York (see following post) we headed 25km south along the Peninsula Development Road to Artemis Station, a sprawling 125,000-hectare cattle property. The savannah woodlands of Artemis have become the go-to hotspot for the endangered Golden-shouldered Parrot. Camping is possible on the property, owned by fourth generation graziers Sue and Tom Shepherd.
When I last saw Golden-shouldered Parrot, in 1982, they were easy to find along the main road. Numbers have plummeted since then. Sue Shepherd has been monitoring the parrots closely on Artemis for the past decade. She believes numbers have declined by about 80 per cent since then: “Once we would find 100 nests in a season. Now we’re flat out finding 10. There aren’t as many flocks and the flocks aren’t as big.”
![]()
Sub-adult male and female (above and below). This decline is believed to be due primarily to cattle grazing. Sue explains that there is usually an adequate seed supply in grasses in the dry season for the parrots, but perennial grasses in the west season are heavily browsed. This means relatively little seed is available during the wet season; the parrots begin nesting at the end of the wet. As well, grazing has substantially reduced grass levels, and the cropped grass favours Agile Wallabies, which have risen sharply in numbers. Pressures from grazing are believed to be responsible for the extinction of the Paradise Parrot, a close relative of the Golden-shouldered, in southern Queensland.
![]()
Says Sue Shepherd: “Between the cattle and the wallabies, the parrots haven’t got a chance. What are we supposed to do? We have to make a living.” She does what she can, and that includes leaving out an abundance of seed for the parrots. Near the homestead it is possible to approach the parrots quite closely at the feeding station. A flock of 6-10 birds was seen regularly at the feeders during our overnight stay, only one of which was an adult male in full plumage (first image, with adult female, also below).
![]()
The parrot favours the sharply shaped, conical “witch’s hat” termite mounds for nesting, because their narrowness gives the birds better vision at the nest hole. That hasn’t saved them from predation by feral cats, which have been filmed dragging nestlings out of termite mound chambers. This is an additional threat to the species. Cats learn new hunting habits that can have devastating consequences. Sue has found nests between just 30 centimetres and two metres from the ground. She is pictured here beside a termite bound nest that hosted a successful nesting of parrots this year.
The Queensland Government’s recovery plan for the species estimates its population at less than 2000; Bush Heritage Australia claims it could be as low as 780. The Golden-shouldered Parrot is endemic to the woodlands of central Cape York Peninsula, restricted to an area of about 3,000 square kilometres.
Other species at Artemis included Blue-winged Kookaburra (above) and Red-browed Pardalote (below).
