The red-fan parrot (Deroptyus accipitrinus), also known as the hawk-headed parrot, is an unusual New World parrot hailing from the Amazon Rainforest. (xxx)
Today, I thought we’d have a little bit of a more general discussion about parrots. Some people may ask themselves: well, what exactly is a parrot?
A parrot is any bird grouped within the family Psittaciformes. Usually, parrots will have hooked beaks, zygodactyl feet (two toes in the front and back), and are omnivores (their diet consists of a variety of plant parts, insects, and possibly meat). The complete classification of this order goes like this:
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Psittaciformes
The order Psittaciformes is further divided into three superfamilies: Cacatuoidea, which is made up of the 21 species of cockatoo; Psittacoidea, which contains around 350 species known as “true parrots;” and Strigopoidea, which is comprised of New Zealand’s 4 extant parrot species.
The superfamilies can each be broken up into families as well, so let’s go into that!
Pictured above: Two Galahs/rose-breasted cockatoos (Eolophus roseicapilla) over a lake.
Cacatuoidea, first off, is a little redundant. It only contains a single family, Cacatuidae, which contains all of the 21 cockatoo species (this includes cockatiels).
Pictured above: A flock of sun conures/parakeets (Aratinga solstitialis) perched on a branch.
Psittacoidea is broken up into the three families Psittacidae, Psittaculidae, and Psittrichasiidae.
Psittacidae is made up of approximately 170 species, and contains parrots such as macaws, conures, african greys, amazons, and poicephalus.
Psittaculidae is made up of birds such as lorikeets, lovebirds, ringnecks, eclectus, alexandrines, tiger parrots, and budgies.
Psittrichasiidae, finally, contains four species of parrots that include Pesquet’s parrot, the Seychelles black parrot, and the greater and lesser vasa parrots.
Pictured above: Kea (Nestor notabilis)
Lastly, there’s Strigopoidea, which is broken up into two families. These are Nestoridae, which contains the North and South island kakas and the kea; and then the other family is Strigopidae, which is solely comprised of the kakapo (the only flightless parrot in the world).
Today I’d like to ask you all to find some interesting birds from the families I’ve gone over in this post. It can be your favorite parrot or a unique one you find while looking around. Make it interesting!
I’d like to share a bird I’ve been obsessing over for the past few weeks – the night parrot (Pezoporus occidentalis). The night parrot is a member of the Psittaculidae family and endangered, known to be mysterious and hard to find. There were no sightings at all between 1912 and 1979, leading many to think they were extinct.
today's bird 