The blood-eared parakeet (''Pyrrhura hoematotis''), also known as the red-eared parakeet and in

aviculture Aviculture is the practice of keeping and breeding birds, especially of wild birds in captivity. Types There are various reasons that people get involved in aviculture. Some people breed birds to preserve a species. Some people breed parrots a ...

as the red-eared conure, is a species of bird in subfamily

Arinae The neotropical parrots or New World parrots comprise about 150 species in 32 genera found throughout South and Central America, Mexico, the Caribbean islands and (formerly) the southern United States. Among them are some of the most familiar an ...

of the family

Psittacidae The family Psittacidae or holotropical parrots is one of three families of true parrots. It comprises the roughly 10 species of subfamily Psittacinae (the Old World or Afrotropical parrots) and 157 of subfamily Arinae (the New World or Neotropic ...

, the African and New World parrots. 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 elsew ...

Venezuela Venezuela (; ), officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ( es, link=no, República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many islands and islets in th ...

Taxonomy and systematics

The blood-eared parakeet has two subspecies, the

nominate Nomination is part of the process of selecting a candidate for either election to a public office, or the bestowing of an honor or award. A collection of nominees narrowed from the full list of candidates is a short list. Political office In the ...

''P. h. hoematotis'' ( Souancé, 1857) and ''P. h. immarginata'' ( Zimmer & W.H. Phelps, 1944).

Description

The blood-eared parakeet is about long and weighs . The sexes are the same. Adults of the nominate subspecies are slaty gray from forehead to mid-crown, with bare white skin around the eye and bright terracotta ear coverts that give it its English name. Their nape feathers are green with yellow edges and the rest of their upperparts are green. Their throat, the sides of their neck, and their upper breast are yellow-green with grayish feather edges giving a scaly appearance. The rest of their underparts are green with some reddish brown on the belly and bluish green undertail

coverts A covert feather or tectrix on a bird is one of a set of feathers, called coverts (or ''tectrices''), which, as the name implies, cover other feathers. The coverts help to smooth airflow over the wings and tail. Ear coverts The ear coverts are sm ...

. Their wing is mostly green with blue

primaries Primary elections, or direct primary are a voting process by which voters can indicate their preference for their party's candidate, or a candidate in general, in an upcoming general election, local election, or by-election. Depending on the c ...

. Their tail's upperside is brownish red with green feather tips; its underside is coppery. Subspecies ''P. h. immarginata'' has a green crown and nape and reduced scaling on the sides of the neck.Collar, N., P. F. D. Boesman, and C. J. Sharpe (2020). Red-eared Parakeet (''Pyrrhura hoematotis''), version 1.0. In Birds of the World (J. del Hoyo, A. Elliott, J. Sargatal, D. A. Christie, and E. de Juana, Editors). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, USA. https://doi.org/10.2173/bow.reepar1.01 retrieved March 13, 2023

Distribution and habitat

The nominate subspecies of the blood-eared parakeet is found in the

Venezuelan Coastal Range The Venezuelan Coastal Range ( es, Cordillera de la Costa or ), also known as Venezuelan Caribbean Mountain System ( es, Sistema Montañoso Caribe) is a mountain range system and one of the eight natural regions of Venezuela, that runs along the c ...

between the states of

Aragua Aragua State ( es, Estado Aragua, ) is one of the 23 States of Venezuela, states of Venezuela. It is located in the north-central region of Venezuela. It has plains and jungle (terrain), jungles and Caribbean beaches. The most popular are Cata a ...

and Miranda. ''P. h. immarginata'' is found in the Andes of southeastern

Lara Lara may refer to: Places * Lara (state), a state in Venezuela *Electoral district of Lara, an electoral district in Victoria, Australia * Lara, Antalya, an urban district in Turkey * Lara, Victoria, a township in Australia * Lara de los Infa ...

state. The species inhabits the interior and edges of

cloudforest A cloud forest, also called a water forest, primas forest, or tropical montane cloud forest (TMCF), is a generally tropical or subtropical, evergreen, montane, moist forest characterized by a persistent, frequent or seasonal low-level cloud c ...

and

secondary forest A secondary forest (or second-growth forest) is a forest or woodland area which has re-grown after a timber harvest or clearing for agriculture, until a long enough period has passed so that the effects of the disturbance are no longer evident. ...

, wooded savanna, and clearings with scattered trees. In elevation it mostly occurs between .

Behavior

Movement

In the dry season some blood-eared parakeets move into lower elevation

semi-deciduous Semi-deciduous or semi-evergreen is a botanical term which refers to plants that lose their foliage for a very short period, when old leaves fall off and new foliage growth is starting. This phenomenon occurs in tropical and sub-tropical woody spec ...

forest.

Feeding

The blood-eared parakeet typically forages in small flocks in the forest canopy. Its diet includes fruits, seeds, flowers, and possibly insect larvae.Buitrón-Jurado, G. and Sanz, V. (2016). Notes on the diet of the endemic Red-eared Parakeet ''Pyrrhura hoematotis'' and other Venezuelan montane parrots. Ardeola. 63(2): 357-367

Breeding

The blood-eared parakeet nests in the wet season centering in August; nothing else is known about its breeding biology.

Vocalization

The blood-eared parakeet's most common call is "a series of harsh notes, e.g. “krree krree krree” " that is given both from a perch and in flight. Perched birds also call with single "kurree", "kurruk", or "krreekuk" notes, though perched birds are often silent. Flocks in flight "call frequently and simultaneously, producing a noisy, harsh chattering."

Status

The

IUCN The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN; officially International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natu ...

has assessed the blood-eared parakeet as being of Least Concern, though it has a small range and a population of unknown size that is believed to be decreasing. No immediate threats have been identified. It occurs in several well-protected areas. However, "due to its small range and apparently declining population, this species may be of conservation concern; population estimates are urgently needed."

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q533055 blood-eared parakeet Birds of the Venezuelan Coastal Range Endemic birds of Venezuela blood-eared parakeet Parakeets blood-eared parakeet Taxonomy articles created by Polbot