Maroon-bellied Parakeet
Pyrrhura frontalis
Fairly small and gregarious parakeet with a long pointed tail. Found mainly in forests, including Araucaria forests and even in large urban parks. Green overall with a rusty frontal band, a maroon belly and undertail, and a scaled breast. Its face pattern is generally quite indistinct, but note buffy ear patches, white eyering, and dark bill. Sexes similar.
Identification
These birds range from 25 to 28 cm (9.8 to 11.0 in), and are primarily green, with a maroon patch on the belly, a "scaly" yellow-green-barred breast and sides of neck, a whitish ear-patch often tinged brown, and a maroon undertail. The specific name frontalis is a reference to its dark maroon frontlet – a feature which separates it from most similar species. The primaries are blue on the outer webs, green on the inner webs, and dark on the tips. The beak is black.<p>The nominate subspecies P. f. frontalis has a greenish-yellow uppertail grading into a broad reddish tip. The subspecies P. f. chiripepe has a greenish-yellow uppertail without the reddish tip. Another subspecies, kriegi, was described from Bahia by Alfred Laubmann in 1932, but today it is universally considered a junior synonym of the nominate subspecies. Distinguished by a narrow brownish-red tip to the tail, it constitutes just a morph or an intermediate genotype making up just 20% of the specimens even in the supposed range. The name Krieg's conure is occasionally used in aviculture for such birds, and some breed them exclusively; they are of course perfectly interfertile with individuals of the normal morph however.
Taxonomy
The maroon-bellied parakeet was formally described in 1818 by the French ornithologist Louis Vieillot and given the binomial name Psittacus frontalis. Vieillot based his description on "La Perruche Ara à bandeau rouge" that had been described and illustrated by François Levaillant in 1801. The specific epithet fontalis is Modern Latin meaning "fronted" or "browed". Levaillant specified the locality as Brazil but Vieillot mistakenly changed this to Cayenne in French Guiana where the species does not occur. The locality is now restricted to the state of Espírito Santo in Brazil. The English naturalist George Shaw was formerly credited with introducing a binomial name for this species. In 1811 he had described the "banded parrakeet" and coined the name Psittacus vittatus, but in 1917 the American ornithologist Harry C. Oberholser pointed out that this name was invalid as the identical binomial name had been coined in 1783 by the Dutch naturalist Pieter Boddaert for the Puerto Rican amazon, now Amazona vittata. The maroon-bellied parakeet is now one of 24 parakeets placed in the genus Pyrrhura that was introduced in 1856 by the French naturalist Charles Lucien Bonaparte.<p>Two subspecies are recognised:<p>It has been suggested that the reddish-bellied parakeet should include the blaze-winged parakeet (P. devillei) as a subspecies based on intermediate specimens from Paraguay. But such hybrids are not common in the wild and the two populations generally maintain their integrity; recent sources are undecided on whether to treat them as one species or two.
- Scientific name
- Pyrrhura frontalis
- Authority
- (Vieillot, 1818)
- Order
- Psittaciformes
- Family
- Psittacidae
- Genus
- Pyrrhura
Range and habitat
The maroon-bellied parakeet is common in woodland, and forest edges. In the northern part of its range, it mainly lives in highlands up to 1,400 m (4,600 ft), but elsewhere it is primarily found in lowlands up to 1,000 m (3,300 ft). Tolerates disturbance well and even lives in urban parks (e.g., Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo) and feeds in gardens. Flock size is usually only 6–12 individuals, but up to 40. As other members of the genus Pyrrhura, it primarily feeds on fruits, flowers, and similar plant matter; they rarely participate in mixed-species feeding flock.
- Migration
- Resident species
Conservation
- Population trend
- stable
Photos
Distribution
Bird Calls
Other Birds
Lagden's Bushshrike
Malaconotus lagdeni
Big bushshrike with a large, laterally flattened bill. Note the black wing with yellowish spotting and the gray head. The breast is yellow in the eastern part of the range, washed with orange in the west. Found in the thick understory and mid-story of humid forest. The song is a long, hollow hoot that is slowly repeated. Also gives quicker hoots and whistles. Similar to Fiery-breasted Bushshrike, but separated by the gray rather than pale lores, the pale yellow bars on the front of the wing, and the lack of a black bar near the tip of the tail.
Eurasian Siskin
Spinus spinus
Small yellowish finch with prominent wingbars. Male is attractive and distinctive, with a yellow face and breast offset by a black cap and small chin patch. Female streaky overall, often with yellowish tones; note especially the yellow wing and tail flashes of both sexes. Inhabits mixed and coniferous woodland and forest; also found in parks and gardens, and visits seed feeders. Often in flocks, mainly in the autumn and winter, gathering at good food sources. Listen for twittering, buzzing vocalizations, including nasal, rising “tuohweee” and dry chittering.
Lewin's Honeyeater
Meliphaga lewinii
A medium-sized olive-gray honeyeater with a pale yellow cheek patch and a relatively stout bill. Cheek patch is often a crescent compared to the circular patch on Graceful Honeyeater and the oval path on Yellow-spotted Honeyeater. Adults have a bluish eye, while the similar Graceful Honeyeater has a blue-gray eye and Yellow-spotted Honeyeater has a brown eye. Listen for the rapid staccato machine-gun call of Lewin’s compared to the loud repeated whistles of the Yellow-spotted Honeyeater and the more simple, single note call of Graceful Honeyeater. Of the three easily confusable species, this is the only one found away from the tropics; it occurs in wetter forests and gardens all along the eastern coast of Australia.
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