Blue-winged racket-tail | |
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Illustration by Keulemans | |
Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Aves |
Order: | Psittaciformes |
Family: | Psittaculidae |
Genus: | Prioniturus |
Species: | P. verticalis |
Binomial name | |
Prioniturus verticalis Sharpe, 1893 | |
The blue-winged racket-tail or Sulu racquet-tail (Prioniturus verticalis) is a species of parrot in the family Psittaculidae. It is endemic to Tawi-Tawi island in the Philippines and is one of the most endangered parrots in the world. It is threatened by habitat loss and the poaching for the cage-bird trade.
It has mainly dark green plumage on back, an olive/green on its breast and belly. Male birds have a pale blue with small red patch on its forehead and forecrown. Females look identical to the male except, they do not have a red spot on their forecrown. The primary feathers blue on outer webs while the middle tail feathers green. Racquet feathers black tinged with blue. Their side tail feathers are green tipped black. Their bill has a blue-grey hue.
It has been described as a rather tame bird and does not usually fear human presence (which has also led to its critically endangered status). They are usually seen in pairs flying over and in the high canopy of trees. It is also rather noisy in flight. This bird feeds on the fruit and flowers of fruiting trees.
Its natural habitats are tropical moist lowland forests and subtropical or tropical mangrove forests. It is now assessed as Critically Endangered by the IUCN Red List with population estimates being just 50 - 249 mature individuals. [1] Its main threat is habitat loss and trapping. Once prevalent throughout all the islands of the Sulu Archipelago, the blue-winged racket-tail is now only found on isolated places on Tawi-Tawi due to rapid habitat destruction during the past 200 years. [2]
One of this bird's threats is its own tame behavior. This tame behavior is taken advantage of by trappers and has made it an easy target to capture for the illegal exotic pet trade. Deforestation of the blue-winged racket-tail's natural habitat to make way for both legal and illegal logging agriculture, mining, and the uncontrolled settlement by humans has destroyed most of this bird's original habitat.
The green racket-tail is an endemic parrot of the Philippines where it is found on Luzon and Marinduque. This species was once common, but is rapidly declining and is currently classified as endangered due to lowland deforestation and capture for cage-bird trade. The population is now estimated to be just 1,000 - 2,499 mature individuals and is continuing to decline with many local extinctions in its former range.
The genus Prioniturus, commonly known as racket-tails, contains nine parrot species found in the Philippines and Indonesia. They are easily distinguished from all other parrots by their elongated central tail feathers with the bare shaft and spatula at the end.
Psittaculini is a tribe of parrots of the family Psittaculidae. The subdivisions within the tribe are controversial.
Fuertes's parrot, also known as the indigo-winged parrot, is an Endangered species of bird in subfamily Arinae of the family Psittacidae, the African and New World parrots. It is endemic to Colombia.
The Sulu bleeding-heart or Tawitawi bleeding-heart is a species of bird in the pigeon and dove family, Columbidae. It is endemic to the island of Tawi-Tawi and its surrounding islets in the Philippines' Sulu Archipelago. This species is known only from two specimens collected in 1891, and has not been recorded with certainty since. It lives in primary and secondary forests that have a closed canopy. The Sulu bleeding-heart is a medium-sized pigeon with a short tail. Bright metallic green feathers stretch from the forehead and crown down to the mantle and sides of the breast, where they surround a large, pale orange breast spot with diffuse edges that gives the species the name "bleeding-heart". The lower wings and back are varying shades of brown, and the throat and chest are largely white. The belly is an ashy-gray.
The blue-backed parrot, also known as Müller's parrot is a large, endangered species of parrot endemic to the Philippines. It is found in tropical moist lowland forests. Flocks are small and often active at night. Its main threats are habitat loss and trapping for the pet trade.
The blue-crowned racket-tail is a parrot found on all the larger islands of the Philippines except Palawan and Panay islands. It is 27 cm, basically green with a blue crown, bluish undertail, whitish beak, and dark underwings with green coverts. The blue-headed racket-tail was formerly included in this species.
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The Buru racket-tail, is a species of parrot in the family Psittaculidae. It is endemic to the forest on the island of Buru, one of the Maluku Islands of Indonesia.
The montane racket-tail or the Luzon racket-tail, is a species of parrot in the family Psittaculidae. It was previously conspecific with the Mindanao racket-tail. It is endemic to the mountains of northern Luzon in the Philippines. It is threatened by habitat loss and the cage bird trade.
The golden-mantled racket-tail is a species of parrot in the family Psittaculidae. It is endemic to Indonesia. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical moist lowland forest and subtropical or tropical moist montane forest up to an altitude of about 3,000 metres (9,800 ft).
The Mindanao racket-tail is a species of parrot in the family Psittaculidae. It is endemic to Mindanao in the Philippines. It was previously conspecific with the Luzon Racket-tail. Two subspecies are recognized: the nominate waterstradti in the south-east, and malindangensis in the west. Its natural habitat is
The Sulu pygmy woodpecker, also known as the Sulu woodpecker, is a species of bird in the family Picidae. Formerly lumped with the Philippine pygmy woodpecker, it seems to form a superspecies with this and the Sulawesi pygmy woodpecker. Some taxonomic authorities continue to place this species in the genus Dendrocopos or Picoides.
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The Sulu boobook or Sulu hawk-owl is a species of owl in the family Strigidae. It is endemic to the Sulu Archipelago in the Philippines. It was previously known as a subspecies of the Philippine hawk-owl, but was reclassified in 2012, as voice and other evidence suggested it was a distinct species. It is found in tropical moist lowland forest. It is threatened by habitat loss.
The Mindoro racket-tail is a species of parrot in the Psittaculinae family. It was formerly considered conspecific with the blue-crowned racket-tail. It is endemic to the island of Mindoro in the Philippines and it occurs in tropical moist lowland forest. It is threatened by habitat loss and trapping for the cage-bird trade.