The Senegal Parrot is another small member of the Psittacidae family, and also the first Psittacini tribe member we will analyze.

This small Psittaciforme is, along with the Ringneck Parrot, one of the only two species of parrots that inhabit the woodlands and savannahs of West Africa, its natural habitat. That’s where the Senegal Parrot takes its name from, as Senegal is one of the countries this bird can be found.

Senegal Parrot- Poicephalus senegalus

They are one of the most popular parrots to have as a pet for a variety of reasons. The Senegal Parrot may be as intelligent and playful as most parrots, but is generally a quiet species. They can also mimic speech and are, unlike some others, reasonably priced. If you want to have one, it is advisable to have him exposed to different people and situations since a young age. If not, your Senegal Parrot will show its jealously nature, becoming a single-person parrot and increasing its aggressiveness towards not only other people, but also its owner. As always, don’t buy a bird that was taken from the wild, as it won’t be a good pet. Did I mention that it’s also illegal? I guess you already know it, right?

Senegal Parrot video

Senegal Parrot facts

Binomial name: Poicephalus senegalus

Scientific classification:
Family: Psittacidae
Sub-Family: Psittacinae
Tribe: Psittacini
Genus: Poicephalus

Subspecies: three
senegalus (Linnaeus, 1766)
versteri (Finsch, 1863)
mesotypus (Reichenow, 1910)

Conservation status: least concern

Diet: fruit, seeds and blossoms

Natural habitat: open woodlands and savannahs of western Africa

Sexual dimorphism: very slight, and not generally accepted. The V-shape of the vest is usually longer in females; in females the green area extends down over the chest to between the legs, whereas in males the tip of the green area ends midway down the chest. The female’s beak and head are generally slightly smaller and narrower than the male’s. The under-tail covert feathers (short feathers under the base of the main tail feathers) are generally mostly yellow in the male Senegal Parrot and generally mostly green in the female. Males are generally, but not always, larger and heavier than female birds

Size: averaging 23cm

Average lifespan: about 30 years, usually more in captivity

Senegal Parrot pics

The Green Cheek Conure is a small parrot of the pyhrrura genus that is native to the inland forests of South America – Brazil, Paraguay, Bolivia and Argentina.

Green Cheek Conure – Pyrrhura molinae

This tiny parrot is mostly green with a grey head, leading to its Brazilian Portuguese name of “dirty-faced pyrrhura”.

The Green Cheek Conure is one of the smallest conure species, and also a popular bird in aviculture, as they are handsome, playful and intelligent. They are also very affectionate, and if you don’t have enough time in your hands to deal with their desire of attention you should strongly consider getting a pair. They can be loud, although not as loud as for example a Sun Conure, but for that reason they shouldn’t be kept in apartments.

If you’re considering purchasing a Green Cheek Conure at a pet store, you should make sure you’re buying what you’re looking for. A young Green Cheek Conure may be confused with a young Maroon Bellied Conure (Pyrrhura frontalis), a close relative, leading to mislabeling at general pet stores. What does a Green Cheek Conure look like and how can you tell the difference? They’re both the same size and they’re both primarily green with several other colour similarites. However, the Green Cheek Conure is generally brighter in color than the Maroon Bellied, and they have gray barring on their chest which fades into a reddish belly. Buying your bird from a breeder will help to ensure you’re getting the parrot you want.

Green Cheek Conure video

Green Cheek Conure facts

Binomial name: Pyrrhura molinae

Scientific classification:
Family: Psittacidae
Sub-Family: Arinae
Tribe: Arini
Genus: Pyrrhura

Subspecies: six currently identified, one of those comparatively recent (1998)
molinae (Massena & Souance, 1854)
phoenicura (Schlegel, 1864)
australis (Todd, 1915)
restricta (Todd, 1947)
sordida (Todd, 1947)
flavoptera (Maijer, Herzog, Kessler, Friggens & Fjeldsa, 1998)

Conservation status: least concern

Diet: mainly seeds and fruits

Natural habitat: forests and woodlands of inner South America

Sexual dimorphism: none, only through DNA sexing

Size: around 30cm

Average lifespan: about 20 years

Green Cheek Conure pics

Because of its long tail, the Crimson Rosella has about the same lenght of an Eclectus Parrot, while having a body size of a Rainbow Lorikeet.

Crimson Rosella – Platycercus elegans

Most of the Crimson Rosella subspecies are, as the name says, mostly crimson. Three of the generally accepted six subspecies are crimson – elegans, nigrescens and melanoptera – while the others are yellow – flaveolus, subadelaidae and fleurieuensis.

Apart from the nominate bird which is mainly crimson coloured, there are other colour mutations such as blue, yellow, white and cinnamon.

While the Crimson Rosella is generally considered as an unthreatened species as a whole, they may be eaten by cats or dogs, and even foxes in some places. Surprisingly, however, the Crimson Rosella is its own worst enemy. During the breeding season, it is usual for females to break the eggs of other nests, making it the number one cause for some eggs failing to hatch. This behaviour is thought to be fueled by the competition these birds have for suitable nesting hollows.

The intensive colors of these parrots are largely the reason why the Crimson Rosella is so popular as pets. The ability to imitate human speech is not one of their characteristics. As with basically any other parrot, if one wants to have a tamed Crimson Rosella, it is necessary to get a very young bird fed by hand. The chances for taming are much greater. Birds kept in pairs do not show any desire to communicate with the owner and thus their taming is usually unsuccessful.

Crimson Rosella video

Crimson Rosella facts

Binomial name: Platycercus elegans

Scientific classification:
Family: Psittacidae
Sub-Family: Psittacinae
Tribe: Platycercini
Genus: Platycercus

Subspecies: six currently identified by most authors, while some may identify a few more
elegans (Gmelin, 1788)
flaveolus (Gould, 1837)
nigrescens (Ramsay, 1888)
melanopterus (North, 1906)
subadelaidae (Mathews, 1912)
fleurieuensis (Ashby, 1917)

Others: adelaidae, filewoodi

Conservation status: least concern

Diet: grass and tree seeds, as well as a variety of fruits, berries, flowers, nectar, larvae

Natural habitat: coastal and mountain forests and woodlands at all altitudes

Sexual dimorphism: very little. Males tend to be a bit larger and have a wider beak

Size: medium size of 36cm, including tail

Average lifespan: about 15-20 years

Crimson Rosella pics

As with the Rainbow Lorikeet, it is theorized that the Eclectus Parrot originated from the large island of New Guinea. The Eclectus Parrot over the many years has colonized many surrounding islands like Solomon, Sumba or Moluccas, some by flying across water masses that are of short distances.

This bird is noted for being the most dimorphic of all species of parrots, and until the beginning of the 20th century the male and female were thought to be two different species. The male is mostly bright green and the female is mostly red and purple. Depending on the subspecies there might be others colours, but these are the dominant colours in all of them.

Eclectus Parrot male and female – Eclectus roratus

The Eclectus Parrot is commonly classified as a member of the Psittaculini tribe, but recent researches found that it also shares resemblances with the Lorini tribe.

While it is an abundant species, the Eclectus Parrot (Eclectus roratus) is the only extant (existent) species of the Eclectus genus. The only other bird known to man classified as part of the Eclectus genus, the Oceanic Eclectus Parrot (Eclectus infectus) probably became extinct about 3000 ago during early settlements of this species’ native islands.

Eclectus Parrot video

Eclectus Parrot facts

Binomial name: Eclectus roratus

Scientific classification:
Family: Psittacidae
Sub-Family: Psittacinae
Tribe: Psittaculini
Genus: Eclectus

Subspecies: nine identified
roratus (Statius Muller, 1776)
polychloros (Scopoli, 1786)
cornelia (Bonaparte, 1850)
aruensis (G. R. Gray, 1858) - some authors think they are part of the polychloros subspecies
riedeli (A. B. Meyer, 1882)
solomonensis (Rothschild & Hartert, 1901)
macgillivrayi (Mathews, 1913)
vosmaeri (Rothschild, 1922)
biaki (Hartert, 1932) – some authors think they are part of the polychloros subspecies

Conservation status: least concern

Diet: mainly fruits, wild figs, unripe nuts, flower and leaf buds, and some seeds

Natural habitat: Eclectus Parrot species are highly adaptable and can be found living in woodlands, grasslands, and forests. They are most often spotted around coastal regions and farmlands.

Sexual dimorphism: extreme, the Eclectus Parrot male is bright green and the female is mostly red, usually with some blue/purple plumage

Size: around 35cm

Average lifespan: about 40-50 years

Eclectus Parrot pics

This bird is commonly found in arid zones of inland Australia. It gets its common name from Major Sir Thomas Mitchell, who is quoted as saying “Few birds more enliven the monotonous hues of the Australian forest than this beautiful species whose pink-coloured wings and flowing crest might have embellished the air of a more voluptuous region”. It gets its scientific name, like a few other species, from natural history merchant and ornithologist Benjamin Leadbeater.

 
Major Mitchell Cockatoo - lophochroa leadbeateri

The Major Mitchell Cockatoo was, until recent times, mostly categorized as part of the Cacatua genus, along with many other cockatoo species. Most recently, authors have started to place the Major Mitchell cockatoo in its own monotypic genus Lophochroa, following the “independence” of the Gang-Gang Cockatoo, which had also gotten its own monotypic genus.

Although generally considered an abundant species, the Major Mitchell Cockatoo has been listed as threatened and vulnerable in Victoria, a southeastern state in Australia, its main habitat.

One Major Mitchell Cockatoo is specially famous. Cookie lives in the Brookfield Zoo, United States. He was born in 1933, just a few months before the opening of the zoo, in which he found a permanent home in front of spectators, until recently. Cookie recently retired from being displayed to general public, and his “retirement house” is the zookeeper’s office.

Major Mitchell Cockatoo video

Major Mitchell Cockatoo facts

Binomial name: Lophochroa leadbeateri. It’s nowadays common to include the Major Mitchell Cockatoo in its own monotypic genus, Lophochroa, instead of the previous attributed genus Cacatua

Scientific classification:
Family: Cacatuidae
Sub-Family: Cacatuinae
Genus: Lophochroa (or Cacatua)

Subspecies: two identified
- leadbeateri (Vigors, 1831)
- mollis (Mathews, 1912)

Conservation status: least concern

Diet: feeds mostly on the ground, especially on the seeds of native and exotic melons and on the seeds of species of saltbush, wattles and cypress pines.

Natural habitat: extensive woodlands

Sexual dimorphism: very slight. Females have a (light) reddish-brown iris with males a (dark) brown to black iris. Females also tend to have a wider yellow band in the crest

Size: about 40cm

Average lifespan: about 40 years, although it can be anywhere from 20 to 70+

Major Mitchell Cockatoo pics

The Sun Conure, while remaining fairly common in the northern parts of South America, has been threatened by habitat loss and trapping for pet trade – although easily bred in captivity and very popular as pets, being recently listed as an endangered species by the IUCN.

Sun Conure – Aratinga solstitialis

This parrot is mostly bright yellow with orange-flushed face and body. Their juvenile green plumage is mostly lost with maturity, remaining only on some parts of the wings, lower back and tail after reaching an adult state.

There is a pied mutation of the Sun Conure which has even fewer green plumage, resembling a Golden Conure, and also a red-factor mutation in which most of the yellow is replaced by more “tanned” colours, between orange and red.

As a pet, they usually demand more care than average, and will misbehave if the owner doesn’t give them enough attention, as they are curious birds and want to be doing something all the time. They are also very loud screechers for such a small species, so keep that in mind if you want to get one. Also, don’t forget the Sun Conure is already an endangered species, so do not contribute in any way to the extintion of one of the most beautiful small parrots of the world. Be sure that your parrot wasn’t taken from the wild, as not only will it make the bird a terrible pet, it will also contribute to the decline of the already scarce wild population of the Sun Conure.

Sun Conure video

Sun Conure facts

Binomial name: Aratinga solstitialis

Scientific classification:
Family: Psittacidae
Sub-family: Arinae
Tribe: Arini
Genus: Aratinga

Subspecies: although they are generally considered to be a monotypic species (with no subspecies), three other species have been previously labeled as a subspecies to the sun conure, being members of the aratinga solstitialis complex:
- auricapilla (Kuhl, 1820)
- jandaya (Gmelin, 1788)
- maculata (Statius Müller, 1776) or pintoi (Silveira, de Lima & Höfling, 2005), recently shown to be the same species/subspecies

Conservation status: endangered

Diet: fruits, flowers, berries, nuts…

Natural habitat: mainly savanna and coastal forests

Sexual dimorphism: none. Sun conure parrots can only be sexed through a DNA analysis

Size: about 30cm

Average lifespan: 25 to 30 years

Sun Conure pics

The colorful bird is pleasent to the eye mostly anywhere in the world, except in some regions of its native Australia, where it is even treated as a pest. Orchard owners hunt Rainbow Lorikeet groups because they strip trees of fresh fruit, and they are also unwelcome in urban areas because of their droppings and noise.

Swainson’s Rainbow Lorikeet – Trichoglossus haematodus moluccanus

Anyway, this happens because of abundant populations of the species, and so the rainbow lorikeet conservation status is of least concern. Despite this, some subspecies are not so common and even threatened, like the Rosenberg’s Rainbow Lorikeet (trichoglossus haematodus rosenbergii).

All subspecies of the Rainbow Lorikeet have very bright and colorful plumage, and although some share most of the color distribution, other subspecies have distinct colors, with some authors even treating them as a separate species entirely (see below).

Rainbow Lorikeet video

Rainbow Lorikeet facts

Binomial name: Trichoglossus haematodus

Scientific classification:
Family: Psittacidae
Sub-family: Loriinae
Tribe: Lorini
Genus: Trichoglossus

Subspecies: the number of rainbow lorikeet subspecies varies from author to author. These are the ones which do not cause much discussion…
- haematodus (Linnaeus, 1771)
- moluccanus (Gmelin, 1788)
- massena (Bonaparte, 1854)
- nigrogularis (Gray, 1858)
- deplanchii (Verreaux & Des Murs, 1860)
- flavicans (Cabanis & Reichenow, 1876)
- nesophilus (Neumann, 1929)

Others can also be included as a subspecies of the rainbow lorikeet, although some may not be treated as a separate subspecies, while others can be treated as a species on their own.

- weberi (Buttikofer, 1894) – may be treated as a separate species
- capistratus (Bechstein, 1811) – may be treated as a separate species
- fortis (Hartert, 1898), flavotectus (Hellmayr, 1914) – may be treated as subspecies of the capistratus species
- brooki (Ogilvie-Grant, 1907), caeruleiceps (Albertis & Salvadori, 1879) – usually treated as a subspecies of the nigrogularis, or even undistincted from that subspecies
- micropteryx (Shodde, 1922) – usually treated as a subspecies of the massena
- forsteni (Bonaparte, 1850) – may be treated as a separate species
- djampeanus (Hartert, 1897), mitchellii (Gray, 1859), stresemanni (Meise, 1929) – may be treated as subspecies of the forsteni species
- rubritorquis (Vigors & Horsfield, 1827) – may be treated as a separate species
- eyrei (Mathews, 1912), septentrionalis (Robinson, 1900) – may be treated as subspecies of the moluccanus species
- intermedius (Rothschild & Hartert, 1901) – not always distinct from the rainbow lorikeet nominal subspecies t.h.haematodus
- rosenbergii (Schlegel, 1871) – may be treated as a separate species

Conservation status: least concern

Diet: mainly fruit, pollen and nectar

Natural habitat: rainforest, woodlands, coastal bush

Sexual dimorphism: none. Rainbow Lorikeet parrots can only be sexed through a DNA analysis

Size: 25 to 30cm in size, around 17cm of wingspan

Average lifespan: 20 to 25 years

Rainbow Lorikeet pics

It is the largest macaw and also the largest flying parrot in the world. This bird measures around 100cm from head to tail, and each wing is the same width of a Ringneck Parrot.

Hyacinth Macaw couple – Anodorhynchus hyacinthinus

Its exquisiteness makes it one of the most sought after animals in the world. Back in the 80s, that lead to overcollection for cage bird trade, making the Hyacinth Macaw an endangered species. It’s estimated that, around that time, about 10000 of these birds were captured in the wild for pet trading. There were other factors that also caused the massive decline of the Hyacinth Macaw population, namely the development of agriculture in its natural habitats and hunting by local indians for food and feathers. There was an estimated population of only 2500 birds in the wild by the end of the 1980s.

Fortunately, a few organizations started taking part in the conservation of the species right at the time the hyacinth macaw was told to be extinct in the wild in a few decades. This concern made the population grow again quickly, closing to the numbers existent prior to the 80s “crash”.

Most of these conservation projects are centered in the region of the Pantanal, Brazil, where we can find the biggest concentration of these birds in the wild. Apart from Brazil, the Hyacinth Macaw can also be found in small regions of adjacent countries Bolivia and Paraguay.

Hyacinth Macaw video

Hyacinth Macaw facts

Binomial name: Anodorhynchus hyacinthinus

Scientific classification:
Family: Psittacidae
Sub-family: Arinae
Tribe: Arini
Genus: Anodorhynchus

Subspecies: none

Conservation status: endangered

Diet: native palm nuts, such as acuri and bocaiuva

Natural habitat: Brazil’s Pantanal region, and neighbouring Bolivia and Paraguay

Sexual dimorphism: none. Hyacinth Macaw parrots can only be sexed through a DNA analysis

Size: around 100cm

Average lifespan: 60 to 80 years

Hyacinth Macaw pics

Back in 2006, my girlfriend’s mother found a bright yellow and bigger than usual parakeet in her roof terrace. It looked like no other bird she had seen, so as me and my girlfriend arrived we took it to a nearby pet products warehouse. The owner identified it as a female Ringneck Parrot. He said the bird must have been starving and exhausted, otherwise it wouldn’t have been easy to capture, as it didn’t look like she had been handraised. Luckily, my mother-in-law got to keep all her fingers intact after picking up the bird. Kinda crucial, as she’s a cook!

Yellow female Ringneck Parrot – Psittacula krameri

The interest we developed made us browse the web to find information about ringneck parrot facts. We found they have several feral populations (check the video below) spread around the world, including here in Europe. At first it made us think it could be one of those, an opinion we quickly disregarded. The bird wasn’t green, as most of the feral ones are, and it was starving, showing it wasn’t familiarized to the wild. It probably escaped from some owner’s cage.

Anyway, we kept the animal which made us fall in love with such exquisite species. The Ringneck Parrot lasted a few years more, but even after its untimely death our interest in parrots remained the same.

Ringneck Parrot video

Ringneck Parrot facts

Binomial name: Psittacula krameri

Scientific classification:
Family: Psittacidae
Sub-family: Psittacinae
Tribe: Psittaculini
Genus: Psittacula

Subspecies:
- krameri (Scopoli, 1769)
- manillensis (Bechstein, 1800)
- parvirostris (Souance, 1856)
- borealis (Neumann, 1915)

Conservation status: least concern

Diet: buds, fruits, vegetables, nuts, berries and seeds

Natural habitat: India and its neighbouring countries. Northern Africa, between the Equatorial line and the Tropic of Cancer

Sexual dimorphism: a female Ringneck Parrot does not display the ring around the neck which gives this species its name. However, a male Ringneck Parrot reaches sexual maturity around 3 years of age, which means that visually sexing your Ringneck Parrot before that age can be difficult, as male juveniles haven’t developed their neck rings yet.

Size: between 37 and 43cm

Average lifespan: 25 to 30 years

Ringneck Parrot pics