Blue-crowned Parakeet
[order] PSITTACIFORMES | [family] Psittacidae | [latin] Aratinga acuticaudata | [authority] Vieillot, 1818 | [UK] Blue-crowned Parakeet | [FR] Conure a tete bleue | [DE] Spitzschwanz-Sittich | [ES] Calancate (Arg,Bo), Aratinga Cabeciazul | [NL] Blauwkoparatinga | [copyright picture] Larry McGlinn
Monotypic species
Genus
The parrot genus Aratinga comprises 24 species. Aratinga is a genus of American parakeets. They belong to the long-tailed group. Most are predominantly green, although a few are predominantly yellow or orange. They are social and commonly seen in groups in the wild. In Brazil the popular name of several species usually is Jandaia, sometimes written as Jandaya in the scientific form.
The genus Aratinga includes species with habitat from South America to Mexico. Birds in the Aratinga genus have a “swift, direct flight” that differs from other similar birds according to “Parrots of the World.” Other characteristics include the males and females looking alike, a fully feathered face and a rather long tail that starts wide at the base and becomes slender at the tip.
A.a. acuticaudata: both adults forecrown to lores, cheeks, and ear coverts dull blue; breast on some birds washed blue; tail green on upperside and brown/red on underside tipped with yellow/olive; upper mandible horn in colour tipped with grey, lower mandible grey/brown. Eye ring bare and creamy white. Eye orange. A.a. neumanni: both adults forehead to nape blue; underparts suffused dull blue. A.a. haemorrhous: both adults as in neumanni, but paler blue confined to forehead and forecrown; blue suffusion absent on underparts; both mandibles horn in colour. A.a. koenigi: as in neumanni but undertail less brown/red; smaller in size. A.a. neoxena: as in haemorrhous, but underparts washed with blue; smaller in size.
Listen to the sound of Blue-crowned Parakeet
[audio:http://www.planetofbirds.com/MASTER/PSITTACIFORMES/Psittacidae/sounds/Blue-crowned Parakeet.mp3]
Copyright remark: Most sounds derived from xeno-canto
recorded by Nick Athanas
| wingspan min.: |
0 |
cm |
wingspan max.: |
0 |
cm |
| size min.: |
33 |
cm |
size max.: |
38 |
cm |
| incubation min.: |
26 |
days |
incubation max.: |
8 |
days |
| fledging min.: |
50 |
days |
fledging max.: |
55 |
days |
| broods: |
1 |
|
eggs min.: |
3 |
|
| |
|
|
eggs max.: |
4 |
|
South America : North, East, Southeast. The Blue-crowned Parakeet occurs in lowland dry forests in South America. A remarkable aspect of this species is that it occupies these deciduous forests in several widely separated regions: in northern Colombia and northern Venezuela; in the interior of northeastern Brazil; and from eastern Bolivia and south central Brazil south through Paraguay to north central Argentina.
Arid thornbush, cactus, scrub, dry woodland, gallery woodland, cerrado, open savanna with Mauritia palm stands, Chaco. To 400 m, Colombia, 600 m Venezuela.
The Blue-crowned Parakeet’s nest is a hole in a tree. The eggs are white and there are usually three to four in a clutch. The female incubates the eggs for 26 days, and the chicks fledge from the nest about 52 days after hatching
Food items include Sorghum and Bambusa seeds, berries of Condalia lineata and fruit of cacti and crops such as mango; also insects. Feeds in trees and on the ground, in pairs, or small flocks; congregations larger when food abundant. In some areas birds roost in crevices on cliffs. May be seen with Mitred and White-eyed Parrots.
Video Blue-crowned Parakeet
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LYA3k9ycr1s
copyright: Stefan Behrens
This species has an extremely large range, and hence does not approach the thresholds for Vulnerable under the range size criterion (Extent of Occurrence <20,000 km2 combined with a declining or fluctuating range size, habitat extent/quality, or population size and a small number of locations or severe fragmentation). Despite the fact that the population trend appears to be decreasing, the decline is not believed to be sufficiently rapid to approach the thresholds for Vulnerable under the population trend criterion (>30% decline over ten years or three generations). The population size has not been quantified, but it is not believed to approach the thresholds for Vulnerable under the population size criterion (<10,000 mature individuals with a continuing decline estimated to be >10% in ten years or three generations, or with a specified population structure). For these reasons the species is evaluated as Least Concern.
Large numbers held in captivity (over 94,000 birds expoted from Argentina, were the species is considered a pest, in 1985-90)
This species often travels in flocks, and may fly long distances between roosting sites and feeding areas
