Yellow-fronted Parrot
Poicephalus flavifrons
A chunky, mid-sized parrot with a big bill and a short tail. Mostly dark green, with a large yellow patch on the face that is absent in immatures. An Ethiopian endemic that is found at middle elevations in a variety of woodland and forest habitats. The calls are thin, high-pitched screeches. Similar to Meyer’s Parrot, but there is little overlap in range, and Yellow-fronted is separated by the lack of yellow shoulders and by the green upperparts.
Identification
The yellow-fronted parrot is about 28 centimetres (11 in) long and is mostly green with the upper parts being a darker green, the tail being olive-brown, and the legs a dark grey-brown. The face is orange-yellow. When two subspecies are recognized, the nominate is believed to have yellow to its head and face, while in P. f. aurantiiceps some of the yellow is replaced with orange. The upper beak is brownish-grey and the lower beak is bone coloured, the irises are orange-red, and bare eye-rings and cere are grey. Male and female adults have identical external appearance. Juveniles are duller than the adults with a mostly grey head, brown irises, and only a small amount of yellow on the front of the face including on the forehead.
Taxonomy
German naturalist Eduard Rüppell first described the yellow-fronted parrot in 1845. Its species name is derived from the Latin words flavus "yellow", and frons "forehead". <p>It is also known as the yellow-faced parrot. Most recent authorities treat it as monotypic, but some recognized two slightly different subspecies, P. f. flavifrons and P. f. aurantiiceps.
- Scientific name
- Poicephalus flavifrons
- Authority
- (Rüppell, 1842)
- Order
- Psittaciformes
- Family
- Psittacidae
- Genus
- Poicephalus
Range and habitat
This parrot is endemic to the Ethiopian Highlands at about 1,000–3,000 metres (3,300–9,800 ft) above sea level. When two subspecies are recognized, the nominate is found in the highlands around Lake Tana and also in central Ethiopia, and P. f. aurantiiceps is found in southwestern Ethiopia. It lives in forest habitats, unlike most other Poicephalus parrots apart from the Cape and red-fronted parrot superspecies complex.
- Migration
- Resident species
Conservation
- Population trend
- stable
Photos
Distribution
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