Maroon-tailed Parakeet
Pyrrhura melanura
Long-tailed parakeet of lowland and foothill rainforest. Green with conspicuous white scaling on breast and neck, maroon tail, and red patches in the wings. Eyering is black in northwestern Ecuador and southwestern Colombia, white elsewhere in its range. Usually encountered in small flocks that fly rapidly from tree to tree giving shrill, raspy calls. Feeds on fruit, usually high in the canopy.
Identification
The maroon-tailed parakeet is 23 to 25 cm (9.1 to 9.8 in) long and weighs about 83 g (2.9 oz). The sexes are the same. Adults of the nominate subspecies P. m. melanura have a mostly green head with a brown crown and nape. Their upperparts are green. Their throat, the sides of their neck, and their breast are dark green with buffy whitish feather edges that give a scaly appearance. The rest of their underparts are green. Their wing is mostly green with red and yellowish orange primary coverts; their primaries are mostly blue. Their tail's upper surface is maroon with a green base and its under surface is dusky grayish. Their bill is grayish, their iris dark brown with bare white skin surrounding it, and their legs and feet blackish gray. Immature birds are similar to adults but with less red on the primary coverts.<p>Subspecies P. m. pacifica is darker than the nominate and has no yellow on its primary coverts. Its breast scaling is darker and narrower, its eye ring gray, and its bill blackish. P. m. chapmani is larger than the nominate with less red on its wing and a red patch on its belly. The scaly appearance of its breast extends around the back of its neck. P. m. souancei has a more heavily scaled throat than the nominate, with no yellow on the primary coverts, sometimes red on its carpals, a brownish red belly, and a blacker undertail. P. m. pacifica has even heavier throat scaling than souancei, red carpals, and a brownish red belly.
Taxonomy
The International Ornithological Committee and the Clements taxonomy assign these five subspecies to the maroon-tailed parakeet:<p>BirdLife International's Handbook of the Birds of the World (HBW) treats P. m. pacifica and P. m. chapmani as separate species, the "Choco" and "Upper Magdalena" parakeets, respectively. Note that the range map excludes these two taxa.<p>This article follows the five-subspecies model.
- Scientific name
- Pyrrhura melanura
- Authority
- (Spix, 1824)
- Order
- Psittaciformes
- Family
- Psittacidae
- Genus
- Pyrrhura
Range and habitat
The subspecies of the maroon-tailed parakeet are found thus:<p>The maroon-tailed parakeet inhabits the canopy and edges of a variety of landscapes including wet lowland premontane forest, cloudforest, várzea, terra firme, and also partially cleared areas. It is most common between 500 and 1,700 m (1,600 and 5,600 ft) of elevation, but P. m. pacifica ranges up to 2,200 m (7,200 ft), P. m. souancei to 3,200 m (10,500 ft), and P. m. berlepschi to 3,200 m (10,500 ft). P. m. chapmani is the exception; it ranges between 1,600 and 2,800 m (5,200 and 9,200 ft).
- Migration
- Resident species
Behavior
The maroon-tailed parakeet is thought to be generally sedentary, but some subspecies are believed to make seasonal elevational movements.<p>The maroon-tailed parakeet typically forages in flocks of about six to 12 individuals. Its diet is not known in detail but includes fruit from forest trees and palms, and also cultivated fruits like mangoes and guavas.<p>The maroon-tailed parakeet's breeding season varies geographically; P. m. melanura breeds between April and June and P. m. berlepschi between January and March. P. m. chapmani's season includes January; its details and those of the other two subspecies are not known. In captivity the clutch size is usually four eggs, the incubation period about 25 days, and the time to fledging seven to eight weeks.<p>The maroon-tailed parakeet's most common call is "a series of loud, harsh notes, e.g. screeet screeet screeet" that is given both from a perch and in flight. However, perched birds are often silent. Members of a flock "call frequently and simultaneously, producing a noisy, harsh chattering ."
Conservation
- Population trend
- declining
Photos
Distribution
Bird Calls
Other Birds
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