The Eastern Ground Parrot, Western Ground Parrot and Night Parrot form a group of closely related parrots in Australia that spend most of their time on or near the ground, usually out of view so they are rarely sighted unless they are flushed by humans or predators. They normally only fly by night. As its name suggests, the Night Parrot is largely nocturnal, an adaptation to living in the extreme temperatures of the inland deserts, whereas both the Ground Parrots are active during the day but do call just after dark or before sunup.

The Eastern Ground Parrot inhabits the dwarf coastal heathlands of Eastern Australia from near Fraser Island in Queensland south to the Otway Ra in Victoria and also in Tasmania. Ground Parrots feed mainly on things they can reach from the ground - occasionally they may climb a foot or so to access seeding sedges which figure largely in their diet. They also like flowering plants and in particular various species of Epacris. One morning I watched one for about an hour or so as it walked along and reached up to bite the base out of the flowers of a low-growing white Epacris in the heath at Jervis Bay.