Pileated Parrot
Pionopsitta pileata
Fairly small parrot usually seen in small groups or pairs in the canopy of humid forests, including Araucaria forests. The body is mostly green apart from a blue outer wing and tail feathers. Males have a red forehead and blue shoulder patch while females are mostly all green with brownish ear patches.
Identification
The pileated parrot is 20 to 22 cm (7.9 to 8.7 in) long and weighs 98 to 120 g (3.5 to 4.2 oz). Adults have an essentially all green body, with a yellowish abdomen. Their primaries, primary coverts, and the edges and tips of their tail feathers are dull blue. Males have a red forehead, crown, lores, and upper ear coverts. Females do not have any red but do have a faint blue wash on the forehead and breast. Immature males have less red on the head than adults, and females have less blue on the wings.
Taxonomy
The pileated parrot is the only member of genus Pionopsitta and has no subspecies. However, what are now the seven species in genus Pyrilia were for a long period included in Pionopsitta.<p>A local name for the pileated parrot in Brazilian Portuguese is "cuiú cuiú".
- Scientific name
- Pionopsitta pileata
- Authority
- (Scopoli, 1769)
- Order
- Psittaciformes
- Family
- Psittacidae
- Genus
- Pionopsitta
Range and habitat
The pileated parrot is found in southeastern Brazil from Bahia south and into eastern Paraguay and Argentina's Misiones Province. It mostly inhabits humid forest but also occurs in somewhat more open and dryer forest dominated by Araucaria and partially cleared landscapes. In elevation it is found from sea level to 1,500 m (4,900 ft).
- Migration
- Nomadic movement
Behavior
The pileated parrot makes some movements between inland and more coastal areas. It is "strikingly nomadic" at Intervales State Park in Brazil's São Paulo state.<p>Little is known about the pileated parrot's feeding behavior or diet. It is known to feed on fruits and seeds of several families of plants, and also on Eucalyptus bark.<p>The pileated parrot's nesting season is not fully defined but apparently includes November. It nests in holes in trees. In the wild the clutch size appears to be two eggs. In captivity clutches of three to four are typical. In captivity the female alone incubates, for about 24 days, and fledging occurs 52 to 54 days after hatch.<p>The pileated parrot call is "very high, piercing shrieks, like 'tjeéreweét'." Its flight call is a "high 'tjer-tjer'tjer- -'."
Conservation
- Population trend
- declining
Photos
Distribution
Bird Calls
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