Chattering Lory
Lorius garrulus
A spectacular red parrot with forest-green wings, thighs, and tail tip. Tail is short and rounded. Most show a yellow patch on the back, but this is absent in the Halmahera form. Adults have a mainly red bill, brownish in immatures. Pairs inhabit forest and edge in lowlands and foothills, but are most abundant in hills. Distinguished from Moluccan King-Parrot by short, rounded tail and red back, and from Violet-necked Lory by lack of extensive dark areas on body. Gives a high-pitched “weee-ooo,” harsh “kraa” notes, and screeches.
Identification
The chattering lory is 30 cm (12 in) long. It is mostly red with an all-red head and an orange beak. The eyerings are grey and the irises are orange-red. The wings are mainly green and the angle of the wing is yellow. Its thighs are green. The tail is tipped with dark green. It has dark grey legs. It may or may not have a yellow area on its back depending on the subspecies.
Taxonomy
The chattering lory was formally described by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in 1758 in the tenth edition of his Systema Naturae under the binomial name Psittacus garrulus. The specific epithet garrulus is Latin and means "chattering", "babbling" or "noisy". Linnaeus cited "The Scarlet Lory" that had been described and illustrated in 1751 by the English naturalist George Edwards in his book A Natural History of Uncommon Birds. The specimen had been brought to London from the East Indies and Edwards was able to make a drawing of the live bird at the home of the Whig politician Robert Walpole. Linnaeus designated the species locality as "Asia", but this is now taken to be the island of Halmahera in the Maluku Islands. The chattering lory is now placed in the genus Lorius that was introduced in 1825 by the Irish zoologist Nicholas Aylward Vigors.<p>Three subspecies are recognised:
- Scientific name
- Lorius garrulus
- Authority
- (Linnaeus, 1758)
- Order
- Psittaciformes
- Family
- Psittaculidae
- Genus
- Lorius
Range and habitat
- Migration
- Resident species
Conservation
- Population trend
- declining
Photos
Distribution
Bird Calls
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