Ultramarine Lorikeet
Ultramarinlori ( Vini ultramarina )
The Ultramarinlori ( Vini ultramarina ), also called Smaragdlori, is a parrot of the genus Maidloris ( Vini ). He is regarded as endangered and is found only on the island of Ua Huka in the Marquesas.
Features
The Ultramarinlori reached a size of 18 cm, a wing length of 115-127 mm and a weight of 35 g In adult birds the forehead is tired of blue. The crown and the back of the head are ultramarine blue. The face is white. The elongated feathers are light blue dashed lines. The top is dull blue. The underside is white with a dark blue speckles. About the breast runs a dark ultramarine blue ribbon. The legs and the under tail-coverts are ultramarine blue. The light blue tail has white tips. The beak is orange with a brownish- black lace. The iris is yellow-orange and the legs are orange. The juvenile birds, the underside is dark blue, with sides of breast and flanks are lighter. The ear-coverts are marked differently grayish white. The beak is black and the iris is dark brown and the legs are orange -brown.
Habitat
The Ultramarinlori inhabited montane forests at altitudes between 500 and 1000 m, where it is preferable to be found along forest edges. Occasionally, it can also be observed in the botanical gardens and fruit orchards and coconut plantations in the lowlands in higher densities.
Way of life
The Ultramarinlori goes singly or in pairs in search of food. Outside the breeding season he can be seen in groups of up to six copies. He considers himself often in the canopy of the forest or in the flowering tops of the coconut palms, mango or banana trees, rarely on low-growing branches or bushes. When foraging it is noisy and restless, and he climbs to the branches around to reach the flowers and the fruits. Its flight is fast and direct with rapid wing beats. The contact call is a shrill, shrieking PSITT ... that is repeated every few seconds and can be heard at a distance of 100 m. The Ultramarinlori flies generally above or just below the treetop level. On longer flights, however, it can grow to a considerable height. If he flies down the mountain slopes, he makes short gliding flights with partially closed, downward curved blades.
The diet consists of pollen, nectar, flowers, berries, buds, soft fruits and sometimes insects and their larvae. In gardens can be the Ultramarinlori to the mango trees ( Mangifera indica) see.
The breeding season extends from June to Augst. The nest boxes are hollow trees or coconut trees, palm trees or in columns in rotting coconuts that are still hanging on the tree. Sometimes nests are also in abandoned nests of finches or other birds. The eggs measure 22.6 × 18.6 mm.
Inventory and risk
The decline in Ultramarinloribestands probably started around 1915, when on Nuku Hiva for the first time rats were sighted. 1975 existed on the island of Ua Pou estimated 500 to 600 Ultramarinloris. 1980 were inadvertently introduced black rats on the island, which had wiped out the Ultramarinloripopulation to Ua Pou to 1998. Between 1992 and 1994, 29 Ultramarinloris were released on Fatu-Hiva. By 1997 the population had grown to 51 copies and they were confident to build a stable population. In 2000 reached the rats Fatu Hiva and 2007 Ultramarinlori disappeared from this island. 1975 were counted 70 instances on Nuku Hiva, but when looking in the years 1990 and 2004 could no longer detectable copy. Today, the Ultramarinlori exists only on Ua Huka, where a schoolteacher reintroduced a couple in the 1940s. In the early 1970s, the stock of 200 to 250 individuals had risen in 1991 to about 1300 copies and currently estimates the population at BirdLife International from 1000 to 2500 adult birds.