Dusky Lory

Chalcopsitta fuscata

Fairly large lory of lowlands and foothill forest and edge. Mainly dark plumage, with 2 obvious bands across the chest and a red bill. Coloration varies from yellow to red. In flight, bright yellow patch in the wing is highly visible. Distinctive fast and straight flight. Often seen flying high in large flocks. Somewhat similar to Black, Brown and Yellow-streaked Lories, but Dusky has a red rather than black bill and different flight. Coconut Lorikeet shows bright red in the fore wing. Very vocal. Noisy, high-pitch, ringing screeches.

Identification

The dusky lory is short-tailed parrot about 25 cm (10 in) long. It is mainly brown and has a whitish back and rump. It has two colour phases; the band across the upper chest together with its abdomen are either yellow or orange. The beak is dark orange and there is an area of bare orange skin at the base of its lower mandible. The irises are red and the legs are grey. The male and females are identical in external appearance. Juveniles are duller with a yellowish back and rump, yellowish-grey irises, and a beak that is yellow at the base and brown/black towards the tip.

Taxonomy

Scientific name
Chalcopsitta fuscata
Authority
(Blyth, 1858)
Order
Psittaciformes
Family
Psittaculidae
Genus
Chalcopsitta

Range and habitat

The dusky lory's native range includes New Guinea below about 2500m in both the Indonesian (West Papua), and Papua New Guinean zones of the island. It is also native to the nearby Indonesian islands of Salawati and Yapen.<p>Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical moist lowland forest, subtropical or tropical mangrove forests, and subtropical or tropical moist montane forest.

Migration
Complete migrants

Conservation

Population trend
stable

Photos

Distribution

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