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Kingdom:
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Animalia
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Phylum:
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Chordata
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Class:
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Aves
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Order:
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Psittaciformes
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Superfamily:
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Psittacoidea
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Family:
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Psittacidae
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Subfamily:
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Arinae
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Genus:
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Pionites
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Species:
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P.
melanocephalus
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Binomial name
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Pionites melanocephalus
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About
The Black-headed
Parrot (Pionites melanocephalus ; sometimes incorrectly Pionites
melanocephala), also known as the Black-headed Caique, Black-capped
Parrot or Pallid Parrot (for P. m. pallidus), is one of the two
species in the genus Pionites of the Psittacidae family;
the other species being the allopatric White-bellied Parrot.
It is found in forest
(especially, but not exclusively, humid) and nearby wooded habitats in the Amazon north
of the Amazon River and west of the Ucayali
River in Brazil, Colombia,Ecuador, French
Guiana, Guyana, Peru, Suriname,
and Venezuela.
It is generally fairly common and occurs in many protected areas throughout its
range.
It is most often found in
pairs or small noisy flocks of up to 10 individuals, but sometimes up to 30. In
the wild, they eat mostly flowers, pulp, and seeds and possibly insects.
Description
The Black-headed Parrot is a
medium-small, short-tailed parrot with a black crown, yellow to orange head,
whitish belly, yellow thighs and crissum, green back, wings and upper tail,
blue primaries (blackish from below), and greyish-black bill and feet.
Male and female birds have
identical plumage.
Subspecies
There are two subspecies of
the Black-headed Parrot. They hybridize freely
and individuals showing some level of intermediacy in color are common:
P. m. melanocephalus: Eastern
part of its range. Orange thighs and crissum, nape deep orange, and belly
white.
P. m. pallidus: Western part
of its range. Yellow thighs and crissum, nape relatively pale, and belly tinged
yellowish (often barely visible; belly normally appears "dirty white"
in the wild).
Juveniles of both subspecies
are strongly tinged yellow below.
Aviculture
Black-headed Parrots are
popular in aviculture. The only ways to determine gender of an
individual Black-headed Parrot are surgical sexing and DNA sexing. DNA
sexing is safer for the bird than surgical sexing.
Black-headed Parrots are
energetic pets. They need a large cage with lots of toys and perches (they tend
to hop more than fly). Cage minimum should be 24" L X 24" W X
36" H, though the larger the better. Maximum bar spacing is 1".
The Black-headed Parrot can
have a tendency to bite, so owners may need to set boundaries early on.
However, potential owners should prepare for a bird that uses its beak more
often than other parrot species.
Black-headed Parrots poorly
mimic human speech. They will mimic other surrounding sounds, such as alarm clocks,
smoke detectors, microwave-oven beeps, laughs, car alarms, and whistles. In
addition, caiques will combine sounds they have picked up to make new ones.
