Moluccan King-Parrot
Alisterus amboinensis
A brightly colored, slender, long-tailed parrot of forest and clearings from the lowlands to mid-mountains in the northwest. Red head and underparts, long bluish tail, blue back, and green or bluish wings depending on the race. Similar to Papuan King-Parrot with little overlap, but Moluccan lacks the pale green shoulder bar of the male and green head of the female. Somewhat similar to Chattering Lory but Moluccan King-Parrot has a blue rather than red back and a longer tail. Gives clear, high-pitched, upslurred piping and harsh scolding calls.
Identification
An adult Moluccan king parrot measures 35–40 cm (14 in) in length and has a red head and chest, outer wings dull green (except in subspecies A. a. hypophonius, which are blue), mantle, lesser wing coverts and tail-coverts dark purple-blue. Tail darker blackish blue, irises orange, and the legs are dark grey. The lower mandible is blackish, and the upper mandible is orange-red with a blackish tip, except in the subspecies A. a. buruensis, where the entire bill is blackish. Unlike the other species of king parrots, the Moluccan king parrot does not display sexual dimorphism; that is, the sexes have similar plumage. Juvenile birds have a dark-brown bill tipped paler, greenish mantle, dark brown irises and red-tips to lateral tail feathers. Birds reach maturity in one year.
Taxonomy
In 1760 the French zoologist Mathurin Jacques Brisson included a description of the Moluccan king parrot in his Ornithologie based on a specimen collected on the island of Ambon in Indonesia. He used the French name La perruche rouge d'Amboine and the Latin name Psittaca amboinensis coccinea. Although Brisson coined Latin names, these do not conform to the binomial system and are not recognised by the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature. When in 1766 the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus updated his Systema Naturae for the twelfth edition he added 240 species that had been previously described by Brisson. One of these was the Moluccan king parrot. Linnaeus included a terse description, coined the binomial name Psittacus amboinensis and cited Brisson's work. This species is now placed in the genus Alisterus which was introduced by the Australian amateur ornithologist Gregory Mathews in 1911.<p>The Moluccan king parrot is one of three species collectively known as king parrots found in Australia, Papua New Guinea, and Indonesia.<p>There are six subspecies:
- Scientific name
- Alisterus amboinensis
- Authority
- (Linnaeus, 1766)
- Order
- Psittaciformes
- Family
- Psittaculidae
- Genus
- Alisterus
Range and habitat
- Migration
- Resident species
Behavior
Encountered alone or in pairs, occasionally in small groups, it mainly frequents dense cover in the lower and mid-levels of forests. It is inconspicuous and rather quiet, except in flight. It consumes fruit, berries, seeds and buds. Nesting takes place in a tree-hollow. The breeding season begins in February and March, although breeding has not been observed in the wild, in captivity the clutch consists of two eggs which are incubated for 19 days. After hatching the chicks are ready to fledge at nine weeks old.
Conservation
- Population trend
- declining
Photos
Distribution
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