The yellow-breasted racket-tail (''Prioniturus flavicans'') 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 Psittacoid ...

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 elsew ...

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...

where it is found in

Sulawesi Sulawesi (), also known as Celebes (), is an island in Indonesia. One of the four Greater Sunda Islands, and the world's eleventh-largest island, it is situated east of Borneo, west of the Maluku Islands, and south of Mindanao and the Sulu Ar ...

's northern peninsula and the

Togian Islands The Togian (or Togean) Islands are an archipelago of 56 islands and many offshore islets, situated in the Gulf of Tomini, off the coast of Central Sulawesi, in Indonesia. The largest islands are Batudaka, Togean, Talatako and Una-Una. Ther ...

in the

Gulf of Tomini The Gulf of Tomini ( id, Teluk Tomini), also known as the Bay of Tomini, is the equatorial gulf which separates the Minahassa Peninsula, Minahassa (Northern) and East Peninsula, Sulawesi, East Peninsulas of the island of Sulawesi (Celebes) in In ...

. Its natural

habitat In ecology, the term habitat summarises the array of resources, physical and biotic factors that are present in an area, such as to support the survival and reproduction of a particular species. A species habitat can be seen as the physical ...

is subtropical or tropical moist lowland

forest A forest is an area of land dominated by trees. Hundreds of definitions of forest are used throughout the world, incorporating factors such as tree density, tree height, land use, legal standing, and ecological function. The United Nations' ...

Description

The yellow-breasted racket-tail has an olive-green back, neck and chest. The bill is pale grey and its irises are brown. Its legs are grey. Males are blue on the top of the head with a red area on the crown. The tail feather are green with terminal black spatulas. Females have a smaller area of blue on the head and no red. Juveniles are similar to females, but have less blue on the head.

Distribution

''Prioniturus flavicans'' is mainly found on the northern peninsula of the island of

(along with other smaller nearby islands such as

Bangka Island Bangka is an island lying east of Sumatra, Indonesia. It is administered under the province of the Bangka Belitung Islands, being one of its namesakes alongside the smaller island of Belitung across the Gaspar Strait. The 9th largest island in In ...

) and the

. This bird's natural range only exists the country of

Ecology & Behavior

''Prioniturus flavicans'' is a quiet and modest bird that is often found in pairs or small flocks. To avoid being noticed by predators, this bird prefers to stay in the upper canopy of trees and moves cautiously among the branches.

Threats

Like most other birds in Indonesia, the yellow-breasted racket-tail is threatened by heavy

deforestation Deforestation or forest clearance is the removal of a forest or stand of trees from land that is then converted to non-forest use. Deforestation can involve conversion of forest land to farms, ranches, or urban use. The most concentrated d ...

to make may for

plantation A plantation is an agricultural estate, generally centered on a plantation house, meant for farming that specializes in cash crops, usually mainly planted with a single crop, with perhaps ancillary areas for vegetables for eating and so on. The ...

s (especially

palm oil Palm oil is an edible vegetable oil derived from the mesocarp (reddish pulp) of the fruit of the oil palms. The oil is used in food manufacturing, in beauty products, and as biofuel. Palm oil accounted for about 33% of global oils produced from ...

), mining operations, and

logging Logging is the process of cutting, processing, and moving trees to a location for transport. It may include skidding, on-site processing, and loading of trees or logs onto trucks or skeleton cars. Logging is the beginning of a supply chain ...

. Because of these threats, this bird is listed as a

near-threatened species A near-threatened species is a species which has been categorized as "Near Threatened" (NT) by the International Union for Conservation of Nature as that may be vulnerable to endangerment in the near future, but it does not currently qualify fo ...

by 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 ...

References

https://www.parrots.org/encyclopedia/yellow-breasted-racquet-tailed-parrot {{Taxonbar, from=Q1272808 Prioniturus Endemic birds of Sulawesi Birds described in 1853 Taxonomy articles created by Polbot