All About Parrots II

All About Parrots II

1. Parrots’ first and fourth toes are turned backwards, so they walk funny, but they are great climbers.

2. Parrots are “zygodactyls”, which means that they have 2 toes pointing to the front and 2 pointing to the back.

3. Parrots pull themselves from branch to branch using their strong, curved beaks as well as their feet to hold on.

4. Bright colors may actually help camouflage parrots - by making them look like colorful flowers to predators!

5. Rainbow lorikeets eat the flowers, nectar, pollen and fruit of flowering trees, as well as seeds and insects. It laps up the flower pollen and nectar with its bristly tongue.

6. The Amazon Panama Parrot is found in Panama & Northern Colombia.  They live along the Pacific woodlands.

7. The Amazon Panama parrot is one of the best talking birds.

8. Eclectus Parrots make a ‘kraach-krrack’ call when flying and a horn-like ‘chu-wee chu-wee’ when feeding.

9. The Western Ground Parrot calls in the hour before sunrise and the hour after sunset. Usually the only way you know they are around is to listen for their calls.

10. The Bahama Parrot's scientific name literally means "white head ed Am a zon parrot from The Bahamas."

11. The Bahama Parrot was recognized as the official Quincentennial mascot in 1992.

12. Bahama Parrot bones found on New Providence have been dated back to the  Pleistocene era, more than 50,000 years ago

13. Christopher Columbus was so struck by their num bers when he made land fall in The Bahamas in l492, he wrote in his log, "flocks of parrots darken the sun"!

14. The Indian Ringneck, or Indian Ring-necked Parakeet (Psittacula krameri), is also called the Rose-ringed Parakeet or African Ring-necked Parakeet.

15. They have a hinged upper and lower beak. (Watch a parrot yawn sometime-unlike other birds, it raises the upper part of the beak without moving the whole head!)

16. Parrots are the only birds that can lift up food to their mouths using their feet. Other birds use their beaks to lift their food, or use their feet to grasp and carry it.

17. There are three basic kinds of feathers:

Down feathers are the small, soft, fluffy feathers located closest to the bird’s skin. They help the bird regulate its temperature.

Contour feathers cover the head and body. They make the bird very smooth so it can travel easily through the air.

Flight and tail feathers are much stiffer and longer than contour feathers. They move the air so that the birdcan fly.

18. It might seem like a parrot’s beak is solid, but it’s not. In fact, like many of the bird’s bones it is hollow, with fine bony struts inside to make it strong. The outside is covered in keratin (which is what our fingernails are made of). A parrot’s beak grows continuously and is worn down by eating, chewing wood, and by grinding the top and bottom parts against each other

19. On average, small pet parrots like budgies live about 10 years. Very large pet parrots can live 80 years or even more!

20. Most parrots nest in tree hollows, but there are exceptions. For example, some parakeets will carve out cavities in termite mounds, and some large macaws will nest in cliff caves. Some parrots will even make their nests in burrows. Generally speaking, parrots lay from 2-7 eggs and incubate them for 22-30 days. When the babies hatch, “mom” usually feeds them and “dad” brings food for her.