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Bronze-winged Parrot

 (Pionus chalcopterus)

Also known as: Bronze-winged Pionus

Click photo to visit gallery

Wild Bronze-winged Parrot
© Felix Uribe [CC BY-SA 2.0] via Flickr

Did You Know?

Pionus will wheeze and gasp when alarmed or stressed and, if left alone, will stop doing it. It is important, however, to distinguish this from respiratory disease in captive birds.

Academic Research

Related publications: Pionus chalcopterus

Species Profile

Genus: Pionus | Species: chalcopterus

Size:

29cm (11.3 in)

Weight:

210g (7.3 oz)

Subspecies including nominate:

one

Colour Adult:

Both adults dark purple/blue in colour; bronze/brown neck and head, feathers widely tipped with dark purple/blue; white chin; dull pink edging on feathers of foreneck, producing a wide band; bronze/green upper back, mantle, and scapulars; deep blue rump and lower back; red undertail coverts; bronze/brown upper wing coverts and tertials; dark blue tail with red at base. Bill yellow. Eye ring bare and brown/pink. Eye brown.

Colour Juvenile:

Green head and upperparts; brown underparts washed with blue, and with dark green edging to feathers; brown upper wing coverts tipped pale brown and edged with green. Eye ring bare and yellow/white. Eye brown.

Call:

Calls made in flight are harsh and screeching. Resembles calls of Blue-headed Parrot (P. menstruus).

Listen Now

Video Links:

Video 1

More Information:

Avibase

Content Sources:

CITES
BirdLife International
Cornell Lab of Ornithology/Birds of the World
Parrots: A Guide to Parrots of the World, Juniper and Parr, 1998
ML Media Collection Catalogue 139012, Bronze-winged Parrot Pionus chalcopterus, Macaulay, Linda, Ecuador, Sep. 21 2003, Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Site
Parrots of the World, Forshaw and Cooper, 1977. 2010 edition
Parrots of the World, Forshaw, 2006.
Parrots in Aviculture, Low, 1992.
Parrots: Their Care and Breeding, Low, 1986.

Click photo to visit gallery

Wild Bronze-winged Parrot
© Felix Uribe [CC BY-SA 2.0] via Flickr

Did You Know?

Pionus will wheeze and gasp when alarmed or stressed and, if left alone, will stop doing it. It is important, however, to distinguish this from respiratory disease in captive birds.

Academic Research

Related publications: Pionus chalcopterus

Species Care

Captive Status:

Uncommon

Longevity:

35-40 yrs

Housing:

Aviary or suspended enclosure, minimum length 2-3m (6.5-9.8 ft).

Diet:

Fruit such as: apple, pear, orange, banana, pomegranate, cactus fruits, forming about 30 percent of diet; vegetables such as: carrot, celery, green beans, peas in the pod; fresh corn on the cob; green leaves such as: Swiss chard, lettuce, sowthistle, dandelion, chickweed; spray millet; small seed mix such as: canary, millet, and smaller amounts of oats, buckwheat, safflower and a little hemp; soaked or sprouted sunflower seed; cooked beans and sprouted pulses; boiled maize, and complete kibble.

Enrichment:

Are vigorous chewers so provide bird-safe, unsprayed fir, pine, flowering or willow branches; heat sterilized pine cones, wooden block toys, vegetable tanned leather toys, swings, ladders, noise makers and rope, and puzzle/foraging toys. Also provide overhead misters or shallow bowls of water for bathing.

Nest Box Size:

Vertical box 10" x 10" x 18-24" (25.4cm x 25.4cm x 45.7-61cm)

Clutch Size:

3-4

Incubation Time:

27 days

Fledging Age:

9 weeks

Hatch Weight:

Probably 9g (0.3 oz).

Peak Weight:

Not recorded.

Weaning Weight:

Not recorded.

Click photo to visit gallery

Wild Bronze-winged Parrot
© Felix Uribe [CC BY-SA 2.0] via Flickr

Did You Know?

Pionus will wheeze and gasp when alarmed or stressed and, if left alone, will stop doing it. It is important, however, to distinguish this from respiratory disease in captive birds.

Academic Research

Related publications: Pionus chalcopterus

Species Wild Status

World Population:

Unknown, decreasing.

IUCN Red List Status:

Least Concern

CITES Listing:

Appendix II

Threat Summary:

Not globally threatened. In SW Colombia, the species is of special concern and in W Ecuador is threatened by rapid forest loss. Less common in the rest of its range where substantial declines may have occurred due to widespread habitat clearance. Population in Peru may be fewer than 500. Little traded internationally, but under some pressure in Venezuela.

Range:

NW Venezuela, in Sierra de Perija, Zulia and mountains of E Tachira and W Merida and W Colombia, in Sierra de Perija, Guajira and in isolated pockets through Andean cordilleras, on western slope of Cordillera Occidental south from Rio Atrato, to both slopes of Andes in W Ecuador, and to NW Peru, Tumbes and Piura.

Habitat:

Found from 900-2800m (2952-9184 ft) in mainly humid and wet upland and montane forest; also seen in drier deciduous areas on west Andean slope, in forest edge and partly cleared areas with scattered trees.

Wild Diet:

Feeds on fruits of Guazuma ulmifolia and Musa sp., also Ficus. Small seeds also recorded.

Ecology and Behaviour:

Social, particularly outside breeding season. Forages in upper canopy. Nests in tree hollow.

Clutch and Egg Size:

3-4 eggs 29.5 x 23.5mm (1.1 x 0.9 in)

Breeding Season:

March-May; nest is in tree cavity.

Related Links:

Wikipedia

Click photo to visit gallery

Wild Bronze-winged Parrot
© Felix Uribe [CC BY-SA 2.0] via Flickr

Did You Know?

Pionus will wheeze and gasp when alarmed or stressed and, if left alone, will stop doing it. It is important, however, to distinguish this from respiratory disease in captive birds.

Academic Research

Related publications: Pionus chalcopterus

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