Meyer's Parrot
Poicephalus meyeri
Also called Brown parrot, Sudan brown parrot
From Sub-Saharan Africa, from north-eastern Cameroon and Chad across East Africa and south to northern South Africa. It lives in riverside and gallery woodland, acacia savanna, secondary growth and farmland.1
At a glance the quick version
Looks how to spot one
Feathered; compact parrot with a large head and short tail
A mostly grey-brown bird with a shiny turquoise to blue-green chest, belly and rump. Most birds show a yellow bar across the crown and yellow on the shoulders and thighs. The bill is dark grey and adult eyes are red-orange. The six subspecies differ in how much yellow they show and how bright the blue-green is.132
Personality what they are like
An even-tempered, gentle parrot that likes to watch what is going on rather than demand the spotlight. It enjoys head and neck scratches, though it is not a cuddly bird. It clicks, whistles and copies household sounds, and some learn a few words.23
Daily activity how busy a day looks
Moderate. Content to sit and chew up toys; still needs daily time out of the cage and things to shred.2
Grooming and care the hands-on bits
Enjoys bathing. Provide destructible toys, varied perches and fresh branches.1
Home where they are happiest
A spacious indoor cage (the World Parrot Trust suggests at least 1.8 m long) or a walk-in aviary of about 2.1 m, with horizontal bars for climbing.14
Food basics what goes in the bowl
Wild birds eat figs, marula and other fruits, green acacia pods and some insects. Pets do well on pellets plus fresh vegetables, fruit, sprouted seeds and cooked beans.12
Company who they like around
A social parrot that tends to bond with everyone in the household rather than just one person.2
The story where it all began
Cretzschmar described the species in 1827 and named it after the German ornithologist Bernhard Meyer. Once imported in large numbers, it is now bred for the pet trade and valued as a quiet, compact companion.32
Fun facts for the dinner table
Recognised by the official bits
- Taxonomy
- Described by Philipp Jakob Cretzschmar in 1827; six subspecies are recognised.3
- IUCN Red List
- Least Concern.1
- CITES
- Appendix II.1
- Aviculture
- Commonly kept and bred for the pet trade.1
The care rhythm Furry Diary remembers it for you
A typical home-care rhythm for a Meyer's Parrot. It is our own starting plan, not a vet's advice, and you can change every line in the app.
- Fresh food and waterevery day
- Cage linerevery 2 days
- Full cleanevery week
- Bath offerevery 3 days
- Nails checkevery month
- Beak checkevery month
- Toy rotationevery week
- Out-of-cage timeAbout 2 hours a dayevery day
- Vet check-upevery year
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Where this comes from
Every breed page shows where each fact comes from. If we got something wrong, sorry, we are pet people, not a science magazine. Tell us at [email protected] and we will fix it.
- World Parrot Trust - Meyer's Parrot parrots.orgused for range, size, weight, diet, lifespan, status, housing
- Lafeber - Meyer's Parrot lafeber.comused for temperament, noise, talking, diet, social needs, lifespan
- Wikipedia - Meyer's parrot en.wikipedia.orgused for history, naming, description, subspecies
- Lafeber - Poicephalus lafeber.comused for cage set-up
Checked 2026-09-30. Text is written in our own words from these sources.