The Ouvea parakeet (''Eunymphicus uvaeensis'') or Uvea parakeet, is a species of

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 Psittacoide ...

in the genus ''

Eunymphicus ''Eunymphicus'' is a genus of parrots in the family Psittaculidae. The genus is endemic to New Caledonia and the Loyalty Islands, and is closely related to the ''Cyanoramphus'' parakeets of Oceania. Taxonomy The genus ''Eunymphicus'' was introd ...

'', in the family

Psittaculidae Psittaculidae is a family containing Old World parrots. It consists of five subfamilies: Agapornithinae, Loriinae, Platycercinae, Psittacellinae and Psittaculinae. This family has been accepted into ''The Clements Checklist of Birds of the World' ...

. It is

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 else ...

to the island of

Uvea The uvea (; Lat. ''uva'', "grape"), also called the ''uveal layer'', ''uveal coat'', ''uveal tract'', ''vascular tunic'' or ''vascular layer'' is the pigmented middle of the three concentric layers that make up an eye. History and etymolog ...

in the

Loyalty Islands The Loyalty Islands Province (French ''Province des îles Loyauté'') is one of three administrative subdivisions of New Caledonia encompassing the Loyalty Island (french: Îles Loyauté) archipelago in the Pacific, which are located northeast of ...

, New Caledonia. The species was once considered

conspecific Biological specificity is the tendency of a characteristic such as a behavior or a biochemical variation to occur in a particular species. Biochemist Linus Pauling stated that "Biological specificity is the set of characteristics of living organis ...

with the

horned parakeet The horned parakeet (''Eunymphicus cornutus'') is a species of parrot in the genus '' Eunymphicus'', in the family Psittaculidae. It is a medium-sized parrot endemic to New Caledonia. It is called "horned" because it has two black feathers that ...

of Grande Terre, but they have now been split into two species.

Description

The Ouvea parakeet is a medium-sized parakeet with mostly green plumage and a prominent green

crest Crest or CREST may refer to: Buildings *The Crest (Huntington, New York), a historic house in Suffolk County, New York *"The Crest", an alternate name for 63 Wall Street, in Manhattan, New York *Crest Castle (Château Du Crest), Jussy, Switzerla ...

. The crest is composed of six backward feathers that curl forwards. The underside of the bird tends to be yellower and there is bright blue on the wings and tail. The face is dark and the

beak The beak, bill, or rostrum is an external anatomical structure found mostly in birds, but also in turtles, non-avian dinosaurs and a few mammals. A beak is used for eating, preening, manipulating objects, killing prey, fighting, probing for foo ...

is black, lacking the yellow on the face of the horned parakeet.

Diet

The species has a preference for natural forests and laurel forest habitat while avoiding coconut plantations and coastal vegetation.Olivier Robinet, Vincent Bretagnolle and Mick Clout (2003) "Activity patterns, habitat use, foraging behaviour and food selection of the Ouvéa Parakeet (''Eunymphicus cornutus uvaeensis'')". ''

Emu The emu () (''Dromaius novaehollandiae'') is the second-tallest living bird after its ratite relative the ostrich. It is endemic to Australia where it is the largest native bird and the only extant member of the genus '' Dromaius''. The emu ...

'' 103 (1): 71 - 80 They are active in the early morning and late afternoon, and avoid activity during the heat of the day. They feed on a variety of foods, with figs of the genus ''

Ficus ''Ficus'' ( or ) is a genus of about 850 species of woody trees, shrubs, vines, epiphytes and hemiepiphytes in the family Moraceae. Collectively known as fig trees or figs, they are native throughout the tropics with a few species extendi ...

'' being particularly important.

Reproduction

The breeding season of the Uvea parakeet is from August to January. The

nests A nest is a structure built for certain animals to hold eggs or young. Although nests are most closely associated with birds, members of all classes of vertebrates and some invertebrates construct nests. They may be composed of organic materi ...

are located in natural cavities in native trees, with ''

Syzygium ''Syzygium'' () is a genus of flowering plants that belongs to the myrtle family, Myrtaceae. The genus comprises about 1200 species, and has a native range that extends from Africa and Madagascar through southern Asia east through the Pacific. ...

'' and '' Mimusops'' accounting for 90% of nesting trees. Three (occasionally two)

egg An egg is an organic vessel grown by an animal to carry a possibly fertilized egg cell (a zygote) and to incubate from it an embryo within the egg until the embryo has become an animal fetus that can survive on its own, at which point the a ...

s are laid in these cavities and incubated for 21 days. The nestling period is around 43 days, with an average of around 1.5 chicks being fledged per nesting attempt. Fledging survival is lower, however, with around 0.75 chicks surviving a month after fledging. The main causes of chick mortality are starvation (most common in the smallest, weakest chick),

brown goshawk The brown goshawk (''Accipiter fasciatus'') is a medium-sized bird of prey in the family Accipitridae found in Australia and surrounding islands. Description Its upperparts are grey with a chestnut collar; its underparts are mainly rufous, f ...

predation and human collecting (for the pet trade).

Status

It once ranged across the other Loyalty Islands; attempts to reintroduce it to Lifou in 1925 and 1963 failed.BirdLife International (2008
Species factsheet: ''Eunymphicus uvaeensis''
Downloaded on 14 July 2008 One source reports that the reintroduced birds simply flew back to Uvea. Studies of potential nesting success on the two islands showed that future reintroductions to Lifou would fail unless the ship rat population is controlled. It is threatened by

habitat loss Habitat destruction (also termed habitat loss and habitat reduction) is the process by which a natural habitat becomes incapable of supporting its native species. The organisms that previously inhabited the site are displaced or dead, thereby ...

and the pet trade. Around 30-50% of its habitat has been lost in the last thirty years. Collection for the pet trade not only reduces the number of birds but the collection method, which involves cutting trees open to get at the chicks, renders the nesting sites useless for future breeding attempts and lack of breeding cavities may be limiting the population. In the event that ship rats were to reach

it would be at greater risk of

extinction Extinction is the termination of a kind of organism or of a group of kinds (taxon), usually a species. The moment of extinction is generally considered to be the death of the last individual of the species, although the capacity to breed and ...

. The parakeet is listed in Appendix I of CITES and the IUCN considers the conservation status as Vulnerable. This species is threatened because of low numbers, a limited home range and habitat loss. However, in recent years, community involvement in saving the species have contributed to significant gains in increasing the Ouvea parakeet population from an estimated 617 in 1993 to 2,090 in 2009.Barre N, Theuerkauf J, Verfaille L, Primot P, Saoumoe M. (2010). Exponential population increase in the endangered Ouvea Parakeet (''Eunymphicus uvaeensis'') after community-based protection from nest poaching. J. Ornitol. 151: 695-701.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q2362250 Eunymphicus Endemic birds of New Caledonia Birds described in 1882 Taxonomy articles created by Polbot