Tui Parakeet
Also known as:
Santarem Parakeet
Also known as:
Santarem Parakeet
DID YOU KNOW?
The Tui Parakeet, along with other Brotogeris species, is an arboreal termitarium breeder.
Size:
17 cm (6.6 in)
Weight:
58 g (2 oz)
Subspecies including nominate:
two: B.s. sanctithomae, B.s. takatsukasae
Colour Adult:
B.s. sanctithomae: Both adults in general yellow/green; yellow forehead, lores and forecrown. Beak dark orange/brown. Eye ring bare and pale grey. Eye yellow.
B.s. takatsukasae: Both adults as in sanctithomae, but with yellow streak behind eye to ear coverts.
Colour Juvenile:
B.s. sanctithomae: As in adults, but with darker brown beak. Eye dark grey.
Call:
Calls made in flight are rapid and repetitious screeking. Chatter of entire flock is reminiscent of Budgerigars.
More Information:
Content Sources:
CITES
BirdLife International
Cornell Lab of Ornithology/Birds of the World
A Guide to Parrots of the World, Juniper and Parr, 1998
Parrots of the World, Forshaw and Cooper, 1977. 2010 edition
Lexicon of Parrots, Thomas Arndt.
Parrots of the World, Forshaw, 2006.
Parrots in Aviculture, Low, 1992.
Captive Status:
Rare.
Longevity:
15 yrs
Housing:
Aviary or suspended enclosure, minimum length 2 m (6.5 ft).
Diet:
Fruit such as: apple, pear, banana, pomegranate, cactus fruits, forming about 30 percent of diet; vegetable such as: carrot, celery, green beans, peas in the pod; fresh corn; 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 and sprouted sunflower seed; cooked beans and pulses, boiled maize, and complete kibble.
Enrichment:
Provide water bowls for bathing. Provide foraging/puzzle toys, bird-safe wooden and vegetable tanned leather toys, swings, ladders, ropes, unsprayed branches and perches, and heat sterilized pine cones.
Nest Box Size:
Tree stump or vertical box 8″ x 8″ x 24″ (20.3 cm x 20.3 cm x 61 cm).
Clutch Size:
4-5
Fledging Age:
45 days
Hatch Weight:
—
Peak Weight:
—
Weaning Weight:
—
World Population:
Unknown, decreasing.
IUCN Red List Status:
Least Concern
CITES Listing:
Appendix II
Threat Summary:
Locally abundant with little habitat loss affecting the species in Brazil, and common within the limited range occupied in Colombia, Peru and Bolivia. Tree cover in its range is lost at a rate of 8% over three generations. The species is however not strictly forest-dependent and can tolerate open and edge habitats. Consequently, even though the population may be in decline, the rate of decline may be slower than the rate of tree cover loss suggests. Tentatively, population declines are 1-9% over three generations.
Range:
B.s. sanctithomae: Upper Amazon River at Rio Madeira, E Amazonas, N Brazil, west to SE Colombia, NE Peru, and NE Ecuador, and south along Rio Madeira and tributaries to N Bolivia, in Pando and N Beni and SE Peru.
B.s. takatsukasae: N Brazil, along lower Amazon River from Rio Madeira east on north bank to Amapa and on south bank to Rio Curua, E Para.
Habitat:
Found up to 300 m (984 ft) in second growth, moist growth lowland tropical rainforest, varzea on banks of larger rivers and river islets, clearings near sources of water.
Wild Diet:
Diet consists of ripe palm fruits and Erythrina fruit, often taking their blossoms; also manioc and sugarcane plantations. Also seen feeding on guaba (Psidium) fruits and Pachyra aquatica and Cecropia sp.
Ecology and Behaviour:
Social, gathering in small flocks or sometimes larger gatherings. Very large flocks seen at food and water sources. Flocks engage in swift, acrobatic flight with frequent changes in direction.
Clutch and Egg Size:
4-5 eggs, 23.0 x 17.0 mm (0.9 x 0.7 in).
Breeding Season:
April-July; nests are in termitaria.
Related Links:
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