Twenty Eight Parrot Painting - Gloucester Tree Western Australia - A trip to the Gloucester Tree National park was a perfect chance to get up close to a range of Australian bird species and parrots. Just what an artist needs to create a series of Australian parrot paintings. 

The Gloucester Tree is a giant karri tree in the Gloucester National Park of Western Australia. At 53 metres in height, it is the world's second tallest fire-lookout tree (second only to the nearby Dave Evans Bicentennial Tree), and visitors can climb up to a platform in its upper branches for a spectacular view of the surrounding karri forest.

The forest area around the tree is the perfect habitat for a number of parrot species including the Western Australian Twenty Eight Parrot and the Western Rosella.

The Australian ringneck (Barnardius zonarius) is a parrot native to Australia. Except for extreme tropical and highland areas, the species has adapted to all conditions. Traditionally, two species were recognised in the genus Barnardius, the Port Lincoln parrot (Barnardius zonarius) and the mallee ringneck (Barnardius barnardi), but the two species readily interbred at the contact zone and are now considered one species. Currently, four subspecies are recognised, each with a distinct range. In Western Australia the ringneck is known as the Twenty Eight parrot due to it's call.

The joyous cry of the twenty-eight parrot and its cheeky tail wagging meant that it was always welcomed as a bringer of happiness by the Noongar people, who called the bird Darlmoorluk. It was said that when Darlmoorluk was around, the camp was safe from evil spirits that roamed the bush. Although twenty-eights were good to eat, the Noongar only hunted them in desperate times. The attractive green, yellow and blue bird which frequents our parks and woodlands is known to the world at large as the Port Lincoln or ring-necked parrot, but has been given the colloquial WA name of twenty-eight because of its call, which some say sounds like it is crying "twenty-eight". Interestingly, only the ring-necks in the South-West cry "twenty-eight". In inland WA, western South Australia and the southern Northern Territory they leave off the "eight".

The western rosella (Platycercus icterotis) less commonly known as the Stanley rosella, Earl of Derby's parakeet or Yellow-cheeked parakeet, is the smallest species of rosella and is found in south-western Australia. in Eucalypt forests and timbered areas. These are smallish parrots measuring 25–30 cm (9.8–11.8 in) in length and weighing from 28 to 80 g