The green parakeet (''Psittacara holochlorus'') is a medium-sized parrot occurring in North and Central America, from the southernmost tip of Texas south to northern Nicaragua.

Description

The green parakeet is 32 cm in length, and is mostly green in color. It also has a yellow beak.

Diet

It feeds on

seeds A seed is an embryonic plant enclosed in a protective outer covering, along with a food reserve. The formation of the seed is a part of the process of reproduction in seed plants, the spermatophytes, including the gymnosperm and angiosperm pl ...

, various

fruits In botany, a fruit is the seed-bearing structure in flowering plants that is formed from the ovary after flowering. Fruits are the means by which flowering plants (also known as angiosperms) disseminate their seeds. Edible fruits in particula ...

, and corn. It can sometimes be considered a crop

pest Pest or The Pest may refer to: Science and medicine * Pest (organism), an animal or plant deemed to be detrimental to humans or human concerns ** Weed, a plant considered undesirable * Infectious disease, an illness resulting from an infection ** ...

Habitat

Wild birds primarily use scrub and swamp forests, woodlands, and forest clearings. The US population takes advantage of palm groves in cities.

Taxonomy

This species was formerly placed in the genus'' Aratinga'' as ''A. holochlora'', and divided into various subspecies (''A. h. holochlora, A. h. brevipes, A. h. brewsteri, A. h. strenua,'' and ''A. h. rubritorquis''). Later, it was split into three species as the green conure (''A. holochlora''), Pacific conure (''A. strenua''), and Socorro conure (''A. brevipes''). Today it is recognised as single species with a highly threatened subspecies (''Psittacara holochlorus brevipes'') endemic to Socorro in the Revillagigedo Islands, Mexico.

Ecology

Green parakeet pairs usually find holes in trees in which to nest, where the female lays three or four eggs. It also nests colonially in crevices on cliff faces. After the breeding season is completed, the birds form large communal roosts.

Distribution

The species occurs from southern Texas and northern Mexico (including ''P. h. brevipes'' on Socorro Island) south through the Middle American isthmus to southwestern Nicaragua. It inhabits a variety of woody habitats. Since the Carolina parakeet's (''Conuropsis carolinensis'') extinction and the thick-billed parrot's (''Rhynchopsitta pachyrhyncha'') extirpation from the United States in the 1930s, the green parakeet remains the only confirmed native extant parrot species in the U.S. Another parrot species, the red-crowned amazon (''Amazona viridigenalis'') is considered by some authorities to be native to the Rio Grande Valley, but its ecological status is still debated. In western Nicaragua, their nesting sites lie within the El Chocoyero - El Brujo Protected Area, but the birds still face threats from the outside world when they leave the reserve to feed. The ''A. brevipes'' subspecies is highly threatened by habitat loss due to feral sheep and predation by feral cats. Surveys from 2006 and 2007 estimated a population around 300 individuals, suggesting a population decline from previous population estimates. The native status of populations in southern Texas is unclear, with some claiming them to be feral escapees. However, the groups in the Rio Grande Valley are now generally regarded as naturally occurring and native, because of the proximity of confirmed native populations, the deforestation of Tamaulipas which forced them to disperse, and earlier evidence from 1911 of these parakeets consuming a strawberry harvest at Combs.