Blue-headed Parrot

Taxobox
name = Blue-headed Parrot
status = LC | status_system = IUCN3.1

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image_width = 300px
image_caption =
regnum = Animalia
phylum = Chordata
classis = Aves
ordo = Psittaciformes
familia = Psittacidae
tribus = Arini
genus = "Pionus "
species = "P. menstruus"
binomial = "Pionus menstruus"
binomial_authority = (Linnaeus, 1766)

The Blue-headed Parrot also known as the Blue-headed Pionus, "Pionus menstruus", is a medium large parrot. It is about about 27 cm long and they are mainly green with a blue head and neck, and red under tail feathers. It is a resident breeding bird in tropical South America and southern Central America, from Costa Rica, Venezuela and Trinidad south to Bolivia and Brazil. It is named for its medium-blue head and neck.

Its habitat is forest and semi-open country, including cultivated areas. The Blue-headed Parrot lays three to five white eggs in a tree cavity.

Blue-headed Parrots are noisy birds and make light, high-pitched squeaking "sweenk" calls. They eat fruit and seeds, and sometimes grain. They roost communally in palm and other trees, and large numbers can be seen at the roost sites at dawn and dusk.

Blue-headed Pionus parrots are popular as pets.cite book |first = David| last = Alderton | title = The ultimate encyclopedia of caged and aviary birds | isbn = 184309164X |pages= p. 229| publisher = Hermes House |location = London, England | year = 2003] Compared to other parrot species (Amazons for example) they are very quiet. They are affectionate, but not known for their talking ability.

Description

The Blue-headed Parrot is about 28 cm (11 in) long and weighs 245 gm. It is mainly green with a blue head, neck and upper breast, red undertail, and some yellow on the wing coverts. The upper mandible is black with reddish areas on both sides. They have dark ear patches. Sexes are alike, and juvenile birds have less blue on the head, as well as red or pinkish feathers around the ceres. They moult into their adult plumage at about 8 months of age, but it can take up to two years for the full blue hood to emerge.

Range

America-Amazon basin

The Blue-headed Parrot in South America, is mainly an Amazon Basin species, including in the southeast the neighboring Araguaia-Tocantins River system as its eastern limit; a disjunct population lives southeastwards on Brazil's South Atlantic coast, a coastal strip from Pernambuco in the north to Espírito Santo state in the south, about 1500 km long.

Costa Rica-Panama

In northwest South America the range continues into Central American Panama to Costa Rica. It avoids the northern Andes cordillera spine, and a smaller contiguous area of central Venezuela and northern Colombia. A Pacific Ocean coastal strip continues the range, from southern Ecuador, north to Caribbean areas of northwestern Colombia and western Venezuela.

Behaviour

Food and feeding

They eat fruit and seeds, and sometimes grain.

Breeding

The Blue-headed Parrot nests in tree cavities. The eggs are white and there are usually three to five in a clutch. The female incubates the eggs for about 26 days and the chicks leave the nest about 70 days after hatching.

Gallery

References

* Database entry includes justification for why this species is of least concern
*cite book
last = ffrench
first = Richard
title = A Guide to the Birds of Trinidad and Tobago
edition = 2nd edition
year = 1991
publisher = Comstock Publishing
isbn = 0-8014-9792-2
*cite book
last = Hilty
first = Steven L
title = Birds of Venezuela
publisher = Christopher Helm
date=2003
location = London
isbn = 0-7136-6418-5

External links

* [http://ibc.hbw.com/ibc/phtml/especie.phtml?idEspecie=2341 Blue-headed Parrot videos] on the Internet Bird Collection
* [http://www.bird-stamps.org/cspecies/7429200.htm Stamps] (for Suriname) with RangeMap
* [http://vireo.acnatsci.org/search.html?Form=Search&SEARCHBY=Common&KEYWORDS=blue-headed+parrot&showwhat=images&AGE=All&SEX=All&ACT=All&Search=Search&VIEW=All&ORIENTATION=All&RESULTS=24 Blue-headed Parrot photo gallery] VIREO--(includes Clay-cliffs photos) [http://vireo.acnatsci.org/species_image.php?species=Pionus+menstruus Photo-High Res]
* [http://www1.nhl.nl/~ribot/jpg14/pimen_fc.jpgPhoto-High Res] ; [http://www1.nhl.nl/~ribot/english/pimen_ng.htm Article] www1.nhl.nl—"Suriname Birds"-- [http://www1.nhl.nl/~ribot/jpg3/pimen222.jpgPhoto-2]