Blue-crowned Parakeet

Aratinga acuticaudata neumanni in Bolivia.

The sharp-tailed or blue head Parakeet ( Aratinga acuticaudata ) is a South American species of parrot from the genus of macaws ( Aratinga ).

Description

It is equipped with 33 to 38 cm long and weighing 170-176 g, one of the larger parrots in the genus Aratinga. It is predominantly green, with dull blue color on the forehead, crown, cheeks and ears. To each eye, he has a white, featherless ring. The breast is green to yellow-green, often tinged blue. The wings are green. With outstretched wings, the outer flight feathers are blue and brown. The tail feathers are green above, brown to reddish brown and bright at the bottom orange to scarlet. The legs are pinkish- brown with gray- brown claws. The upper beak is horn- colored, the lower mandible dark. The iris is orange red.

Young birds have less blue on the head. Sharp-tailed Parakeets can be 30-40 years old.

Distribution and habitat

They inhabit the disjunct northern Venezuela and northeastern Colombia, the interior of northeastern Brazil, northern Argentina and the area around the Río Paraguay and the Gran Chaco. They live in dry savannas, such as the Cerrado, dry and gallery forests and overgrown with cacti or Mauritia palm areas. In Colombia and Venezuela, they are going to heights of 400 and 600 meters, the Bolivian subspecies Aratinga acuticaudata neumanni we still encountered at altitudes from 1500 to 2650 meters.

Lifestyle and diet

Sharp-tailed parakeets migrate depending on the regional food supply. With a large supply of food come together in large flocks.

Your food, they are looking for both on the ground and in the tops of trees, consists mainly of seeds, fruits (including cacti), berries (of Condalia species) and nuts and they are addressed occasionally damage to fields at.

Reproduction

The breeding season is from March to July in Venezuela from May to August at the Isla Margarita, in December in Argentina. The nests of these birds in tree holes in tall trees, the subspecies Aratinga acuticaudata neoxena exclusively uses the Black Mangrove ( Avicennia germinans ). The birds lay which are incubated by the female about 23 days usually 2-5 white eggs. After about 50 days, the young are fledged and leave the nest. During the breeding season show sharp-tailed parakeets increased aggression towards conspecifics and predators.

The present affirmed in captivity succeeded in 1971 in England.

Subspecies

There are five subspecies:

• Aratinga acuticaudata acuticaudata ( Vieillot, 1818), Blue Parakeet head, the nominate form from eastern Bolivia, Paraguay, the South and Southwest of Brazil and the western Uruguay.
• Aratinga acuticaudata haemorrhous ( Spix, 1824), Blue-fronted Parakeet, Piaui and North Bahia inhabited in inner Northeast Brazil. Its front face is pale blue, the beak is bright overall and with 35 inches he is a bit smaller. The green of the basic plumage is slightly lighter than in the nominate form, also the tail underside is colored vivid. The first introduction to Europe in 1864 took place in London, but the present affirmed it was not until 1950 in Los Angeles by G. Rayson Brown.
• Aratinga acuticaudata Queen Mirror ( Arndt, 1995), from the north- east Colombia and northern Venezuela. The coverts are less red - brown and this subspecies is generally smaller.
• Aratinga acuticaudata neoxena ( Cory, 1909), Venezuela - Blue-fronted Parakeet, lived in Isla Margarita ( Venezuela). Its front face is pale blue, the bottom is blue washed out and his ear-coverts are green. The tail underside is brownish and with 32 inches of Venezuela - Blue-fronted Parakeet is smaller than the nominate.
• Aratinga acuticaudata neumanni ( Blake & Traylor ), 1947, Bolivia - Blue-fronted Parakeet, lived in the highlands of eastern Bolivia. His forehead is blue to the neck, his bottom penetrated by a deep matt blue and the basic plumage is dark green. They live in the Andes, at altitudes of 1500 and 2650 meters.