An Introduction to Parrots

~ Parrot Species • Parrots as Pets • ICUN Ratings ~

Parrot Species

There are presently 352 species of parrots as recognized in "Parrots - a guide to parrots of the world" by Tony Juniper and Mike Parr:

Macaws

Spix's, lear's, blue throated, red fronted, hyacinth, great green or buffons, military, green wing, blue and gold, scarlet, yellow collared, chestnut fronted or severe, red bellied, blue winged or illigers, noble, hahns and, blue headed, glaucous (probably extinct).

Amazons

cuban, hispaniolan, puerto rican, yellow billed, green cheeked, white fronted, yellow lored, black billed, tucuaman, red spectacled, lilac crowned, yellow cheeked, blue cheeked, red browed, red tailed, festive, vinaceous, yellow faced, yellow shouldered, blue fronted, yellow headed, yellow naped, yellow crowned, orange winged, scaly naped, white faced, mealy, st. vincent, red necked, st. lucia, and imperial.

Conures

blue crowned, golden, olive throated, red fronted, mitred, red masked white eyed, finsch's, cuban hispaniolan, green, socorro, sun, janday, golden capped, peach fronted, dusky headed, orange fronted, brown throated, cactus, black hooked, golden plumed, yellow eared parrot, austral, slender billed, blue throated maroon bellied, green cheeked, white eared, painted, crimson bellied, pearly, santa maria, fiery shouldered, black tailed, el oro, white breasted, black capped, brown breasted, red eared, rose crowned, sulphur winged,

Neotropical "Parakeets"

sierra, mountain, barred, andean, fufous fronted, plain, canary winged, grey cheeked, tovi, cobalt winged, golden winged, tui,

Parrotlets

mexican, spectacled, pacific, yellow faced, dusky billed, green rumped, blue winged, tepui, amazonian, lilac tailed, scarlet shouldered, red fronted, red winged, sapphire rumped, brown backed, golden tailed, spot winged.

Other New World Parrots

thick billed parrot, maroon fronted parrot, pantagonian conure, monk parakeet, black headed caique, white bellied caique, saffron headed, brown hooded, rose faced, short tailed, orange cheeked, vulturine, caica, red capped, black winged, fuerte's, red faced, blue headed parrot, white crowned, dusky, scaly headed , speckle faced, red billed, bronze winged, hawk headed, purple bellied.

Cockatoos

palm, glossy black, red tailed black, yellow tailed black, white tailed black, long billed black, gang-gang, galah, sulphur crested, pink or leadbeaters, yellow crested or sulphur crested, blue eyed, moluccan or salmon crested, umbrella or white, philippine or red vented, goffins or tanimbar, ducorps, long billed corella, little corella, western corella.

Other old world parrots

pesquet's, kea, kaka, kakapo, blue rumped, painted tiger, brehm's tiger, modest tiger, madarasz'a tiger, red cheecked, blue collared, singing, montane racquet tail, mindanao racquet tail, blue headed racquet tail, green racquet tail, blue winged racquet tail, yellow breasted racquet tail, golden mantled racquet tail, blue crowned racquet tail, bubu racquet tail, great billed parrot, blue naped, blue backed, black lored, eclectus parrot, crimson shining, red shining, masked shining, australian king parrot, muluccan king, pupuan king, olive shouldered, red winged, superb, regent, red capped alexandra's, port lincoln ringneck, mallee ringneck, bluebonnet, red rumped, mulga, hooded, golden shouldered, paradise, bourke's, antipodes green parakeet, norfolk island parakeet, red fronted parakeet, new caledonian parakeet, yellow fronted parakeet, horned parakeet, uvea parakeet, blue winged, elegant, rock orange bellied, turquoise parrot scarlet chested, budgerigar, swift, cockatiel, ground, night, vasa, black, african grey, brown necked, jardine's, senegal, meyer's, yellow faced, red bellied, brown headed, ruppell's niaminiam,

Pygmy Parrots

buff faced, yellow capped geelvink, meek's, finsch's, red breasted.

Fig Parrots

orange breasted, edwards's, salvadori's, double eyed, large, guiabero.

Rosellas

western, crimson, yellow, adelaide, green, northern, pale headed, eastern.

Lovebirds

grey headed, red faced, black winged, black collared, peach faced, fischer's, yellow collared, nyasa, black cheeked.

Hanging parrots

vernal, ceylon, colasisi, black billed, blue crowned, sulawesi, moluccan, sangir, orange fronted, green fronted, red billed, yellow throated, wallace's.

African and Asian Parakeets

alexandrine, ring necked, mauritius or echo, slaty headed, finsch's, plum headed, blossom headed,intermediate, malabar,emerald collared, lord derby's, nicobar, red breasted, long tailed.

Lories

black lory, brown, yellow streaked, cardinal, dusky, black winged, violet necked, red, blue streaked, red and blue, blue eared, purple bellied, black capped, white naped, yellow bibbed, purple naped, chattering.

Lorikeets

rainbow, red collared, pohnpei, ornate, mindanao, yellow and green, scaly breasted, olive headed, varied, iris, goldie's,collared, blue crowned, stephen's, kuhl's, ultramarine, blue, musk, little, purple crowned, palm, red chinned, meek's, blue fronted, pygmy, striated, red fronted, red flanked, red throated new caledonian, duchess, papuan, josephine's, fairy, yellow billed, plum faced, orange billed.

Companion Parrots As Pets

by Mark L. Stafford

Few pets are as engaging as parrots. They are animated. They Talk. They are very social. And they bond to humans. They are engaging, fun, and a joy to see and interact with. However, there are some important considerations to understand before you take a parrot into your home:

Parrots make noise

By nature parrots make noise. In the wild, parrots communicate and keep their flock together by calling to each other. For larger parrots these calls can be heard for miles through the forest. Most parrots are noisiest two times per day, earlier in the morning and early evening. This relates to life in the wild. In the morning the flock would be waking up and having roll call. Then, in the evening, calling the flock back together to the communal roosting sites. This type of noise is natural and to be expected of your parrot. However, noise and screaming can develop into a problem with some parrots. See Steve Martin's excellent explanation of parrot screaming.

Parrots are messy

Parrots are messy pets. The pet industry has invented all sorts of gadgets and devices to try and help the pet parrot owner deal with the mess. Parrots throw their food around. Parrots poop. And you, as a parrot owner, will go through a lot of newspaper as you routinely clean their messy house. Amazingly, some parrots can be potty trained to relieve themselves on command, but this takes time.

Parrots Chew

Parrots, by nature, chew things. Everything. Your parrot won't care if it is the new chew toy you just placed in his/her cage, or if it is grandma's antique Chippendale china hutch in the dining room, or the living room sofa. If you parrot can get his/her beak on it, the rest is history. To the parrot, the entire world is a chew toy. Therefore, your parrot's environment and access to your prized possessions needs to be controlled to prevent an unhappy situation.

Parrots need a big cage

Obviously the bigger the parrot the bigger the cage. A cage for a large macaw can take up more floor space than a large refrigerator.

Parrots take time

Parrots are very social creatures. For a parrot to be happy and well adjusted in your home, it will need lots of attention from you and you family (read "time"). There are lots of generalizations and advice in the literature about how much time to devote to your parrot. But generally, your parrot will require about an hour a day (plus) of attention from you. Much of this time can be satisfied by holding your parrot while watching TV... Or carrying your parrot on a tour around the house or into the yard... Or just taking him/her out of the cage and preening his/her feathers. But most parrots are not content just sitting in a little cage 24 hours a day seven days a week. And when parrots aren't happy, they tend to complain about it (see "Parrots Make Noise").

Parrots are pets for life

Parrots live a long time. Larger parrots can live for 40 to 70 years, or more. Additionally, parrots mate for life in the wild. Therefore your parrot will be innately "wired" for a lifelong commitment. If you can foresee changes in your life style or living arrangements that may change in the future then a parrot may not be the best pet for you.

Parrots are wild animals

Most pet parrots are only one generation removed from the wild. Often, your parrot's parents were wild, perhaps caught in the wild and imported to the United States years ago. Therefore, unlike dogs and cats that have been selectively bred for thousands of years to be good domestic pets for a human household, your parrot has been selectively bred for life in the wild. You cannot consider your parrot a domesticated pet. It is really a tamed wild animal. Your parrot still has all the instincts and skills to help it survive in the wild. Your parrot will try to use those instinctual skills and adapt them for life in your home. As you can imagine, that doesn't always work, but you can't blame your parrot for that. Therefore, your parrot will often exhibit behavior and reactions that aren't entirely appropriate for life in an apartment or house.

Parrots do not understand punishment

Your parrot will need to learn how you expect it to behave in your home (remember, your parrot is hard wired to live in the rain forest). You will need to learn how to teach your parrot what you expect. Unfortunately, the methods many of us have learned in dealing with our pet dogs and cats do not apply to parrot training. Dogs and cats respond well to positive and negative reinforcement (punishment). Parrots respond well to positive reinforcement and very poorly to negative reinforcement (punishment). Therefore training techniques that worked well in training your dog and cat to live in your home will not work with your parrot. In fact negative reinforcement can make for a detrimental pet. See Steve Martin's excellent reference of parrot training.

Parrots can bite

In the wild a parrot will rarely bite, even a foe or territorial invader. Most aggression in the wild is just for show. However, parrots can be trained (inadvertently) to bite. Remember, they are wild and they react to reinforcement of their behaviors (both positive and negative reinforcement). In the wild, a parrot will just fly away from something it doesn't like or doesn't want to be associated with. However, in your home your parrot can't fly away. If it you place your parrot in an uncomfortable situation and your parrot reacts by using it's beak, your reaction will determine whether it uses its beak again. If a parrot bites and you respond by removing the unwanted situation (i.e. your hand) it will reinforce biting and increase the tendency to bite in the future. See Steve Martin's "Why Does My Parrot Bite"?

Parrots are nothing like a pet dog or cat

Unlike dogs and cats, which are typically neutered, adult birds behavior may vary dramatically due to hormonal influences. This may make handling difficult and create an unintentional adversarial relationship with your bird. Female birds may also have significant medical problems related to their reproductive activity.

There is a perception that birds are easier to take care of than dogs and cats. This false notion is usually related to the fact that they are kept in cages. Companion birds require much more time and attention than a typical dog or cat.

Additionally, Pet birds may require medical attention that may be quite expensive.

 

The ICUN rating system for endangered status

IUCN is the International Union for Conservation of Nature.

Among other things, IUCN maintains The Red List — a well-respected extinction risk system. IUCN's Red List encompassses many species.

Here, at Parrots International, we share the status of parrots that are on the IUCN Red List. We do this at the suggestion of Birdlife.org’s Dr. Nigel Collar. You’ll notice that we link to specific pages at Birdlife. Birdlife.org refers to all birds, so this enables you to focus on parrots.

We'll have other information like this here too, shortly.


This page last updated on May 1, 2008.