Antipodes Parakeet
Cyanoramphus unicolor
Entirely green parakeet endemic to the subantarctic Antipodes Islands. The largest of New Zealand’s native parakeets. Males are larger than females. Common throughout their habitat and range, walking and climbing through vegetation when foraging. Will scavenge bird carcasses. An inquisitive bird, often approaching human visitors. Call is a distinctive deep “kok-kok-kok-kok” chatter. Shares its range with Reischek’s parakeet, but distinguishable by much larger size and lack of a red crown.
Identification
It is the largest species in the genus Cyanoramphus at 30 cm (12 in) long. and makes a penetrating kok-kok-kok-kok noise.
Taxonomy
The Antipodes parakeet was depicted in 1831 by the English artist Edward Lear in his Illustrations of the Family of Psittacidae, or Parrots. Lear used the common name "Uniform parakeet" and coined the binomial name Platycercus unicolor. The species is now placed in the genus Cyanoramphus that was introduced in 1854 by the French ornithologist Charles Lucien Bonaparte.<p>Its closest relative is Reischek's parakeet, which also lives on the Antipodes Islands. Other relatives include the Norfolk parakeet, Society parakeet and Chatham parakeet.
- Scientific name
- Cyanoramphus unicolor
- Authority
- (Lear, 1831)
- Order
- Psittaciformes
- Family
- Psittaculidae
- Genus
- Cyanoramphus
Range and habitat
The Antipodes parakeet is endemic to the Antipodes Islands of New Zealand. They are common on the main Antipodes Island, but are less common on smaller islands in the group such as Bollons Island. They live in very small numbers on Leeward Island, where they only live in a 0.1 square kilometre region of the island. The Antipodes parakeet also live on the 0.1 square kilometre Archway Island as well.
- Migration
- Resident species
Behavior
These parakeets eat leaves, buds, grass, and tussock stalks, as well as sometimes feeding on seeds and flowers, and will scavenge dead seabirds. The Antipodes parakeet also preys on grey-backed storm petrels, entering burrows to kill incubating adults, even digging at the entrance if it is too small.<p>Antipodes parakeets spend much of their time on the ground and in very small groups, in pairs or solitary.<p>They are quite inquisitive, territorial, probing and mischievous.<p>Their nest is in a tunnel 2 metres beneath the fibrous peat away from the wind.
Conservation
- Population trend
- stable
Photos
Distribution
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