Painted Tiger Parrot

Brown apex Parrot ( Psittacella picta)

The brown apex Parrot ( Psittacella picta ) is a species of bird in the genus binding parakeets. The species is endemic to the island of New Guinea.

Features

The brown apex parrot is of a size about 19 cm and a weight of 48-68 g significantly smaller than the Brehm parrot, but larger than the Olivpapagei and Madarasz - binding parakeet. The male has a blue- gray beak, the head is dark brown with a yellow stripe on the side, which is in contrast to the Brehm parrot also drawn on the neck. The back is green-black banded, wings and belly are green, the red tail, the tail tip green. In the female lacks the yellow stripe head, the cheeks are blue-green and the breast is yellow and black banded. Juveniles resemble the female, but the head is completely brown. The subspecies lorentzi has blue-green cheeks and no red on the tail.

Habitat

At its habitat includes tropical mountain forests and subalpine zones bushes at a height level from 1500 to 2100 m.

Nutrition

The diet consists of fruits, seeds, berries, buds and leaves.

Subspecies

The following three subspecies are described:

• P. p. lorentzi (van Oort, 1910)
• P. p. excelsa ( Mayr & Gilliard, 1951)
• P. p. picta ( Rothschild, 1896)