Reischek's parakeet (''Cyanoramphus hochstetteri'') is a small green parrot confined to

Antipodes Island In geography, the antipode () of any spot on Earth is the point on Earth's surface diametrically opposite to it. A pair of points ''antipodal'' () to each other are situated such that a straight line connecting the two would pass through Ear ...

, one of

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

’s subantarctic islands, which it shares with a congener, the larger

Antipodes parakeet The Antipodes parakeet or Antipodes Island parakeet (''Cyanoramphus unicolor'') is a parrot in the family Psittaculidae that is endemic to the Antipodes Islands of New Zealand. It is one of two parrot species found on the islands, and one of only ...

Taxonomy

The common name commemorates pioneering naturalist and collector

Andreas Reischek Andreas Reischek (15 September 1845 – 3 April 1902) was an Austrian taxidermist, naturalist, ornithologist and grave robber notable for his extensive natural history collecting expeditions throughout New Zealand as well as being notorious for ...

, who collected specimens of the parrot in 1888 and who named it ''Platycercus hochstetteri'' for the son of his friend, Austrian geologist

Ferdinand von Hochstetter Christian Gottlieb Ferdinand Ritter von Hochstetter (30 April 1829 – 18 July 1884) was a German-Austrian geologist. Career Having received his early education at the evangelical seminary at Maulbronn, Ferdinand proceeded to the University o ...

, who made a geological survey of New Zealand. Reischek’s parakeet was previously considered to be a subspecies of the

red-crowned parakeet The red-crowned parakeet (''Cyanoramphus novaezelandiae''), also known as red-fronted parakeet and by its Māori name of kākāriki,Parr, M., Juniper, T., D'Silva, C., Powell, D., Johnston, D., Franklin, K., & Restall, R. (2010). Parrots: A Guid ...

''C. novaezelandiae'', which it resembles in appearance, but was later lumped with the

Macquarie parakeet The Macquarie parakeet (''Cyanoramphus erythrotis''), also known as the Macquarie Island parakeet, is an extinct parrot from subantarctic Macquarie Island, an outlying part of Tasmania, Australia, in the Southern Ocean. Taxonomy The Macquarie pa ...

from

Macquarie Island Macquarie Island is an island in the southwestern Pacific Ocean, about halfway between New Zealand and Antarctica. Regionally part of Oceania and politically a part of Tasmania, Australia, since 1900, it became a Tasmanian State Reserve in 197 ...

in a 2001 paper by Wee Ming Boon and others following an examination of the molecular systematics of the genus which found that many of the red-crowned parakeet subspecies should be elevated to full species.Boon, Wee Ming; Kearvell, Jonathan C.; Daugherty, Charles H.; & Chambers, Geoffrey K. (2001). Molecular systematics and conservation of kakariki (''Cyanoramphus spp.''). ''Science for Conservation'' 176. Dept of Conservation:Wellington, New Zealand. However, subsequently the provenance of Boon ''et al.''’s supposed Macquarie Island material was shown to be mistaken, originating from the Antipodes Islands instead.Scofield, R. Paul. (2005). The supposed Macquarie Parakeet in the collection of Canterbury Museum. ''Notornis'' 52(2): 117-120Chambers, Geoffrey K.; & Boon, Wee Ming. (2005). Molecular systematics of Macquarie Island and Reischek's parakeets. ''Notornis'' 52 (4): 249–25

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Behaviour

Feeding

Reischek’s parakeet feeds on Poa, tussock flowers, leaves, seeds, berries as well as invertebrates such as

fly Flies are insects of the Order (biology), order Diptera, the name being derived from the Ancient Greek, Greek δι- ''di-'' "two", and πτερόν ''pteron'' "wing". Insects of this order use only a single pair of wings to fly, the hindwing ...

larva A larva (; plural larvae ) is a distinct juvenile form many animals undergo before metamorphosis into adults. Animals with indirect development such as insects, amphibians, or cnidarians typically have a larval phase of their life cycle. The ...

e in the

guano Guano (Spanish from qu, wanu) is the accumulated excrement of seabirds or bats. As a manure, guano is a highly effective fertilizer due to the high content of nitrogen, phosphate, and potassium, all key nutrients essential for plant growth. G ...

of the penguin

colonies In modern parlance, a colony is a territory subject to a form of foreign rule. Though dominated by the foreign colonizers, colonies remain separate from the administration of the original country of the colonizers, the '' metropolitan state'' ...

. It also scavenges on the carcasses of petrels and

albatross Albatrosses, of the biological family Diomedeidae, are large seabirds related to the procellariids, storm petrels, and diving petrels in the order Procellariiformes (the tubenoses). They range widely in the Southern Ocean and the North Pacifi ...

es.Greene, Terry C. (1999). Aspects of the ecology of Antipodes Parakeet (''Cyanoramphus unicolor'') and Reischek's Parakeet (''C. novaezelandiae hochstetteri'') on Antipodes Island, October - November 1995. ''Notornis'' 46: 301-31

Conservation

Though the population of Reischek's parakeet is healthy, its limited distribution makes it potentially vulnerable to events such as the accidental introduction of rodents to its island home. On the New Zealand Threatened Species classification it is listed as ‘range restricted’.TerraNature: Reischek’s Parakeet
/ref>

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q1261020 Cyanoramphus, Reischek's parakeet Birds of the Antipodes Islands Endemic birds of New Zealand Parrots of Oceania Reischek's parakeet