The Sri Lanka hanging parrot (''Loriculus beryllinus'') is a small

parrot Parrots, also known as psittacines (), are birds of the roughly 398 species in 92 genera comprising the order Psittaciformes (), found mostly in tropical and subtropical regions. The order is subdivided into three superfamilies: the Psittacoid ...

which is a resident

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsew ...

breeder in

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්‍රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...

Description

The Sri Lanka hanging parrot is a small

hanging parrot Hanging parrots are birds in the genus ''Loriculus'', a group of small parrots from tropical southern Asia. About long, hanging parrots are mostly green plumaged and short-tailed. Often head coloring helps to identify individual species. They a ...

that is 13 cm long with a short tail. The adult has a red crown and rump. The nape and back have on orange tint. The chin and throat are pale blue. The beak is red and the irises are white.Forshaw (2006). plate 46. Immature birds lack the orange hue to the back, have a duller rump, and have only a hint of orange on the crown. They have a faint blue throat. They have orange beaks and brown irises.

Behaviour

Sri Lanka hanging parrot is less gregarious than some of its relatives, and is usually alone or in small groups outside the breeding season. Its flight is swift and direct, and the call is a sharp whistled ''twiwittwit..twitwitwit''. It undergoes local movements, driven mainly by the availability of the fruit, seeds, buds and blossoms that make up its diet. Sri Lanka hanging parrot is a bird of open forest. It is strictly arboreal, never descending to the ground. It nests in holes in trees, laying 2–3 eggs.Females are involved in building the nest while males mostly remain close, observing the females.Breeding season includes the first part of the year and sometimes July-september.

In culture

, this bird is known as ''Gira Maliththa'' - ගිරාමලිත්තා or ''Pol Girwa'' - පොල් ගිරවා in

Sinhala language Sinhala ( ; , ''siṁhala'', ), sometimes called Sinhalese (), is an Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan language primarily spoken by the Sinhalese people of Sri Lanka, who make up the largest ethnic group on the island, numbering about 16 milli ...

. The hanging parrot appears in a 15 cent

n postage stamp. This bird also appears on the 1000

Sri Lankan rupee The Sri Lankan Rupee ( si, රුපියල්, ta, ரூபாய்; Currency symbol, symbol: Re and Rs (plural) in English, රු in Sinhala, ௹ in Tamil; ISO 4217, ISO code: LKR) is the currency of Sri Lanka. It is subdivided into 100 ...

bank note ( 2010 series).

Gallery

Image:Thimindu 2010 03 06 Sinharaja Sri Lanka Hangling Parrot 1.jpg, Sri Lanka hanging parrot at

Sinharaja Forest Reserve Sinharaja Forest Reserve is a forest reserve and a biodiversity hotspot in Sri Lanka. It is of international significance and has been designated a Biosphere Reserve and World Heritage Site by UNESCO. According to International Union for Conser ...

References

Cited texts

* * ''Birds of India'' by Grimmett, Inskipp and Inskipp, {{Taxonbar, from=Q337797

Sri Lanka hanging parrot The Sri Lanka hanging parrot (''Loriculus beryllinus'') is a small parrot which is a resident endemic breeder in Sri Lanka. Description The Sri Lanka hanging parrot is a small hanging parrot that is 13 cm long with a short tail. The adult has a ...

Endemic birds of Sri Lanka

Taxa named by Thomas Pennant