| Yellow-faced parrotlet | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Adult male | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Aves |
| Order: | Psittaciformes |
| Family: | Psittacidae |
| Genus: | Forpus |
| Species: | F. xanthops |
| Binomial name | |
| Forpus xanthops (Salvin, 1895) | |
 | |
The yellow-faced parrotlet (Forpus xanthops) is a species of parrot in the family Psittacidae.
Yellow-faced parrotlets are about 14.5 cm (5.7 in) long and weigh about 35 grams (1.2 oz). [2] Their bodies are mostly dark or olive green with gray washes on the nape and mantle and yellow-green underparts, and foreheads, crown, cheeks, and throat are bright yellow. A gray-green stripe extends backwards from each eye. Eyes are dark brown and feet and lower mandibles are light peach. The upper mandible is light peach with a gray or darker brown base. Yellow-faced parrotlets are sexually dimorphic: males have bright blue lower backs, tail, secondary, and underwing coverts, and inner primary feathers. Females' blue feathers are lighter on their backs and rumps, with blue-tinged green coverts, secondaries, and primaries. [2] [3]
Juveniles of the species look similar to adults, but are duller and have fewer yellow feathers and an entirely peach beak.
Like all parrots, yellow-faced parrotlets exhibit zygodactyly, meaning two toes face forward and two toes face backward.
Yellow-faced parrotlets are found in northwestern Peru in the upper Rio Marañón valley, from eastern La Libertad north to southeastern Cajamarca and southern Amazonas. [2]
Yellow-faced parrotlets prefer arid, low-density woodlands in upper tropical and subtropical areas including scrub, riparian zones, open balsa woodland, cactus montane desert, and open country with scattered vegetation. They are found at altitudes of 800–1,000 metres (2,600–3,300 ft), and rarely up to 2,400 metres (7,900 ft) above sea level. [2]
The yellow-faced parrotlet is currently listed as a Vulnerable species by the IUCN Red List. [1] The number of mature individuals in the wild is estimated to be 250-999 birds as of October 2016.
The population size is currently stable, but birds are often trapped for the wild parrot trade. The mortality rate of this practice is estimated to be 40-100%. The construction of dams on the Rio Marañón is also a threat to yellow-faced parrotlet populations, as human activity tends to be detrimental to their habitat.
Yellow-faced parrotlets are protected, and international trade is prohibited by the Wild Bird Conservation Act and other legislation.
Yellow-faced parrotlets are very social; they roost communally in flocks of up to 70 pairs.
Yellow-faced parrotlets typically breed between March and April; females lay clutches of 3-6 small white eggs. [2] Yellow-faced parrotlets actually do not build nests but chew and rearrange wood shavings into shallow depressions on the ground. [1]
Yellow-faced parrotlets mainly feed on cactus and tree fruits, seeds, flowers, and grass and wheat seeds. [2]
Because of their Vulnerable status, yellow-faced parrotlets are very rare in captivity. Illegal pet traders in its range capture wild birds every year, though this practice is not very lucrative and merits severe punishment. It is estimated that there are fewer than 50 captive yellow-faced parrotlets in the U.S., though this number is simply a guess. They are easy to breed in captivity, which aids many organizations, such as the International Parrotlet Society, in maintaining successful breeding programs in efforts to conserve this species. [4]
The budgerigar, also known as the common parakeet, shell parakeet or budgie, is a small, long-tailed, seed-eating parrot. Budgies are the only species in the genus Melopsittacus. Naturally, the species is green and yellow with black, scalloped markings on the nape, back, and wings. Budgies are bred in captivity with colouring of blues, whites, yellows, greys, and even with small crests. Juveniles and chicks are monomorphic, while adults are told apart by their cere colouring, and their behaviour.
Conures are a diverse, loosely defined group of small to medium-sized parrots. They belong to several genera within a long-tailed group of the New World parrot subfamily Arinae. The term "conure" is used primarily in bird keeping, though it has appeared in some scientific journals. The American Ornithologists' Union uses the generic term parakeet for all species elsewhere called conure, though Joseph Forshaw, a prominent Australian ornithologist, uses conure.
The scarlet macaw is a large yellow, red and blue Neotropical parrot native to humid evergreen forests of the Americas. Its range extends from southeastern Mexico to Peru, Ecuador, Colombia, Bolivia, Venezuela and Brazil in lowlands of 500 m (1,600 ft) up to 1,000 m (3,300 ft), the Caribbean island of Trinidad, as well as the Pacific island of Coiba. Formerly, the northern extent of its range included southern Tamaulipas. In some areas, it has suffered local extinction because of habitat destruction, or capture for the parrot trade, but in other areas, it remains fairly common. It is the national bird of Honduras. Like its relative the blue-and-yellow macaw, the scarlet macaw is a popular bird in aviculture as a result of its striking plumage.
Parrotlets are a group of the smallest New World parrot species, comprising several genera, namely Forpus, Nannopsittaca, and Touit. They have stocky builds and short tails and are endemic to Middle and South America. They resemble the lovebirds of Africa in size, body shape and behaviour and have sometimes been referred to as "South American lovebirds", but are not closely related.
The Moluccan eclectus is a parrot native to the Maluku Islands (Moluccas). It is unusual in the parrot family for its extreme sexual dimorphism of the colours of the plumage; the male having a mostly bright emerald green plumage and the female a mostly bright red and purple/blue plumage. Joseph Forshaw, in his book Parrots of the World, noted that the first European ornithologists to see eclectus parrots thought they were of two distinct species. Large populations of this parrot remain, and they are sometimes considered pests for eating fruit off trees. Some populations restricted to relatively small islands are comparably rare. Their bright feathers are also used by native tribespeople in New Guinea as decorations.
The green-rumped parrotlet, also known as the green-rumped parakeet, is a species of parrot in the family Psittacidae that is found in northeastern South America and the Caribbean island of Trinidad. The green-rumped parrotlet occurs from northern Venezuela eastwards to the lower Amazon in Brazil, Also Suriname and has been introduced to Curaçao, Jamaica and Barbados. It prefers semi-open lowland areas and is also sometimes present in city parks. There are five subspecies.
The slaty-headed parakeet is the only psittacid species to exhibit altitudinal migration. The species' range extends from Pakistan, to Western Himalayas in India through Nepal and Bhutan and up to the Eastern Himalayas in the northeastern Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh. They descend to the valleys in winter, approximately during the last week of October.
The yellow-faced parrot, formerly also known as the yellow-faced amazon, is the only species of the genus Alipiopsitta. It is a Neotropical parrot, and was classified in the genus Amazona for many years. It is a predominantly green and yellow-plumaged bird with a yellow head. It is a semi-nomadic species found in the cerrado region of Brazil and adjacent Bolivia. As the yellow-faced parrot has disappeared from parts of its former range due to habitat destruction and generally occurs in low densities, it was considered vulnerable by the IUCN, but it remains locally fairly common, occurs in several protected areas and can survive in fragmented habitats, leading to its downlisting to near-threatened.
The northern rosella, formerly known as Brown's rosella or the smutty rosella, is a species of parrot native to northern Australia, ranging from the Gulf of Carpentaria and Arnhem Land to the Kimberley. It was described by Heinrich Kuhl in 1820, and two subspecies are recognised. The species is unusually coloured for a rosella, with a dark head and neck with pale cheeks—predominantly white in the subspecies from the Northern Territory and blue in the Western Australian subspecies hillii. The northern rosella's mantle and scapulars are black with fine yellow scallops, while its back, rump and underparts are pale yellow with fine black scallops. The long tail is blue-green, and the wings are black and blue-violet. The sexes have similar plumage, while females and younger birds are generally duller with occasional spots of red.
The cobalt-rumped parrotlet or blue-winged parrotlet is a species of parrot in the family Psittacidae.
The Pacific parrotlet, also known as Lesson's parrotlet, or the celestial parrotlet, is a species of small parrot in the family Psittacidae.
Forpus is a genus of neotropical parrots in the family Psittacidae. It is the only genus in the Forpini tribe of the subfamily Arinae.
The spectacled parrotlet is a species of parrot in the family Psittacidae.
The Mexican parrotlet, also known as the turquoise-rumped parrotlet or the Mexican blue-rumped parrotlet, is a species of parrot in the family Psittacidae.
The dusky-billed parrotlet, also known as Sclater's parrotlet, is a small species of parrot in the family Psittacidae. It is the nominate species.
The scarlet-shouldered parrotlet, also known as the red-winged parrotlet or Huet's parrotlet, is a species of bird in subfamily Arinae of the family Psittacidae, the African and New World parrots. It is found in Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Peru, and Venezuela, possibly in Suriname, and as a vagrant to Trinidad and Tobago.
The golden-tailed parrotlet is a Vulnerable species of bird in subfamily Arinae of the family Psittacidae, the African and New World parrots. It is endemic to eastern Brazil.
The Maranon spinetail is a Critically Endangered species of bird in the Furnariinae subfamily of the ovenbird family Furnariidae. It is found in Ecuador and Peru.
The turquoise-winged parrotlet is a species of parrot in the family Pscittacidae.
The riparian parrotlet or large-billed parrotlet is a species of parrot in the family Psittacidae.
