HORNED PARAKEET Eunymphicus cornutus ©Lars Petersson

This medium-sized parrot lives in humid pine forests, rainforest and laurel forest habitats, but will accept scrublands or savannah.

Its most striking feature is a two-feather black crest, with the crest feathers tipped in red.

Small family groups, or pairs, will forage in the canopy for their diet of nuts and seeds.

Horned parakeets will nest either on or near the ground, and also in hollowed-out logs, or nest hollows in dead trees. Uncommon among parrots, horned parakeets have been reported nest-sharing. The number of eggs laid is usually 2–4. Incubation lasts 21–22 days and the time from hatching to fledging is approximately 5 to 6 weeks.

Main threats to the horned parakeet are the black rat, the wildcat, the introduced Rusa deer, logging, La Nina (wet) years, and Psittacine beak and feather disease, a severe virus which is known to affect ~42 species of parrots. Humans poaching the birds for local trade is rare, because the birds' nests are difficult to find, and more importantly, there are no ingrained local customs regarding keeping birds as pets. source 

Photo below: ©Joel Sartore/PhotoArk

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SCARLET MACAW Ara macao ©Laura Quick One of 17 species of macaws, the scarlet macaw is one of the most beautiful members of the parrot family and one of the largest Neotropical parrots. Scarlet macaws prefer life in the rainforest. With wide strong wings and hollow bones that aid flight, they can reach speeds of 56 kilometers (35 miles) per hour.

Diet: In the wild, macaws help promote forest growth by dropping seeds while they’re eating, and spreading seeds throughout the forest.

Lifespan: The scarlet macaw can live up to 75 years in captivity, although a more typical lifespan is 40 to 50 years.

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BLUE AND GOLD MACAW SPEECH Ara ararauna ©Laura Quick

Studies over the past 30 years continually show that parrots engage in much more than mere mimicry. Our avian friends can solve certain linguistic processing tasks as deftly as 4-6  year-old children. Parrots appear to grasp concepts like “same” and  “different”, “bigger” and “smaller”, “none” and numbers.  Perhaps most interestingly, they can combine labels and phrases in  novel ways. A January 2007 study in Language Sciences suggests using  patterns of parrot speech learning to develop artificial speech skills  in robots.

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CHATTERING LORY Lorius garrulus ©Laura Quick

Did You Know?

The Chattering Lory has been trapped to near extinction (for the pet trade) on a number of islands in Indonesia.

Up to 70% of a lory or lorikeet's day is spent foraging for food. They will fly up to 30 miles in a day to find a food source.            

Programs & Projects World Parrot Trade has worked with numerous partners to help save this species. In 2016-2017 WPT supported the confiscation and rehabilitation of over 50 Chattering Lories seized in a number of shipments. Where possible the birds were moved to Tasikoki Rescue Centre for treatment and preparation for release back into the wild. In July 2018 the Forestry department of North Moluccas, a WPT partner, released 14 rehabilitated Chattering Lories on Bacan Island in that region.

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