White-eyed Parakeet
Psittacara leucophthalmus
Medium-sized parakeet, with a long graduated tail. Mostly green body with variable amounts of red spots on the head, neck, and shoulders. Has bare white eyerings and a pale bill. Often found in large noisy groups in a variety of habitats including forests, savanna, mangroves, and urban areas.
Identification
The white-eyed parakeet is 32 to 35 cm (13 to 14 in) long with a 37 to 40 cm (15 to 16 in)[citation needed] wingspan. It weighs 100 to 218 g (3.5 to 7.7 oz). The sexes are alike. Adults of all subspecies are mostly green that is paler on their underparts. They have red flecks on their head and neck. The bend and edge of their wing and their outermost lesser underwing coverts are also red. Their outermost greater underwing coverts are yellow. The undersides of their flight feathers and tail are olive. Their eye is orange surrounded by bare white to yellowish white skin and their bill is horn colored. Subspecies P. l. callogenys is larger and darker green than the nominate P. l. leucophthalmus. Subspecies P. l. nicefori has a red band on its forehead. Juveniles resemble adults, but have little or no red on the head and wings.
Taxonomy
The white-eyed parakeet was for a time placed in the genus Aratinga but from about 2013 has been in its present genus Psittacara. It has these three subspecies:<p>What is now Finsch's parakeet (P. finschi) was for a time treated as a fourth subspecies of white-eyed parakeet, and they now constitute a superspecies.<p>The white-eyed parakeet's specific epithet is derived from the Ancient Greek leukos "white" and ophthalmos "eye".
- Scientific name
- Psittacara leucophthalmus
- Authority
- (Müller, PLS, 1776)
- Order
- Psittaciformes
- Family
- Psittacidae
- Genus
- Psittacara
Range and habitat
The nominate subspecies of the white-eyed parakeet has the widest distribution. It is found on Trindad and from eastern Venezuela east through the Guianas and south through Brazil into Bolivia, Paraguay, northern Argentina, and Uruguay. Its Brazilian range does not include the upper Amazon Basin or the dry northeastern part of the country. Subspecies P. l. callogenys is found in southeastern Colombia south through eastern Ecuador into northwestern Peru and east into the upper and central Amazon Basin south of the Amazon River. P. l. nicefori is known only from the type specimen that was collected in central Colombia.<p>The white-eyed parakeet inhabits a wide variety of landscapes, most of which are somewhat open. These include the edges of dense forests and nearby savannahs, secondary forests, gallery forests, várzea forests (especially in Ecuador), palm groves, mangroves, and clearings in rainforests. It is generally a bird of the lowlands, reaching 700 m (2,300 ft) in Colombia and 1,100 m (3,600 ft) in Ecuador but occurring as high as 2,500 m (8,200 ft) in Bolivia.
- Migration
- Resident species
Behavior
The white-eyed parakeet congregates in flocks that may number several hundred birds and include other parrot species. It roosts communally in trees and also in cane fields and caves.<p>The white-eyed parakeet is non-migratory but apparently roams in response to food availability.<p>The white-eyed parakeet's diet is mostly fruit but also includes seeds, flowers, and small numbers of arthropods. It visits clay licks.<p>The white-eyed parakeet's breeding season varies widely across its very large range. It nests in cavities in trees and palms. The clutch size is three to four eggs. In captivity, the incubation period is four weeks and fledging occurs nine weeks after hatch.<p>The white-eyed parakeet is very vocal, especially in flight with "a grating chattering interspersed with higher-pitched shrieks" described as "r'teet-r'teet-tiw-". It also makes "[s]harp squeaky notes and loud harsh calls" described as "scree-ah".
Conservation
- Population trend
- declining
Photos
Distribution
Bird Calls
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