The yellow-chevroned parakeet (''Brotogeris chiriri'') is native to tropical

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the southe ...

south of the

Amazon River The Amazon River (, ; es, Río Amazonas, pt, Rio Amazonas) in South America is the largest river by discharge volume of water in the world, and the disputed longest river system in the world in comparison to the Nile. The headwaters of t ...

basin from central

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

to southern

Bolivia , image_flag = Bandera de Bolivia (Estado).svg , flag_alt = Horizontal tricolor (red, yellow, and green from top to bottom) with the coat of arms of Bolivia in the center , flag_alt2 = 7 × 7 square p ...

Paraguay Paraguay (; ), officially the Republic of Paraguay ( es, República del Paraguay, links=no; gn, Tavakuairetã Paraguái, links=si), is a landlocked country in South America. It is bordered by Argentina to the south and southwest, Brazil to th ...

, and northern

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

. Caged birds have been released in some areas, and the birds have established self-sustaining populations in the

Miami, Florida Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a East Coast of the United States, coastal metropolis and the County seat, county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade C ...

, and

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

and

San Francisco, California San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...

. This bird seems to be doing better in its North American feral population than the closely related

white-winged parakeet The white-winged parakeet (''Brotogeris versicolurus''), or canary-winged parakeet is a small parrot native to the Amazon River basin from southeast Colombia to the river's mouth in Brazil. Caged birds have been released and the birds have esta ...

. The species is also established in the downtown area of

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro ( , , ; literally 'River of January'), or simply Rio, is the capital of the state of the same name, Brazil's third-most populous state, and the second-most populous city in Brazil, after São Paulo. Listed by the GaWC as a b ...

, Brazil; and in

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires ( or ; ), officially the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires ( es, link=no, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires), is the capital and primate city of Argentina. The city is located on the western shore of the Río de la Plata, on South ...

, Argentina; where it was introduced. The native population in South America continues to do well.

Description

The bird is 20–25 cm in length, and is mostly light green in color. It has a trailing yellow edge on its folded wings, which is also seen when the bird is in flight. It was 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 organ ...

with the white-winged parakeet until 1997.

Diet

The bird feeds mostly on

seeds A seed is an embryonic plant enclosed in a protective outer covering, along with a food reserve. The formation of the seed is a part of the process of reproduction in seed plants, the spermatophytes, including the gymnosperm and angiosperm pl ...

and

fruit In botany, a fruit is the seed-bearing structure in flowering plants that is formed from the ovary after flowering. Fruits are the means by which flowering plants (also known as angiosperms) disseminate their seeds. Edible fruits in particu ...

in its native habitat, and

feral A feral () animal or plant is one that lives in the wild but is descended from domesticated individuals. As with an introduced species, the introduction of feral animals or plants to non-native regions may disrupt ecosystems and has, in some ...

populations have adapted to take in

blossoms In botany, blossoms are the flowers of stone fruit trees (genus ''Prunus'') and of some other plants with a similar appearance that flower profusely for a period of time in spring. Colloquially, flowers of orange are referred to as such as wel ...

and

nectar Nectar is a sugar-rich liquid produced by plants in glands called nectaries or nectarines, either within the flowers with which it attracts pollinating animals, or by extrafloral nectaries, which provide a nutrient source to animal mutualists ...

. During dry periods, which often leads to fruit scarcity, the bird adapts by eating more seeds, particularly from the plant Erythrina dominguezii. These birds are also observed participating in

Geophagia Geophagia (), also known as geophagy (), is the intentional practice of eating earth or soil-like substances such as clay, chalk, or termite mounds. It is a behavioural adaptation that occurs in many non-human animals and has been documented in ...

, being the deliberate ingestion of soil, commonly in location of clay licks. Feral birds also come to bird feeders. Wild birds primarily use disturbed forest and forest clearings around settlements. They rarely use deep tropical forest. Yellow-chevroned parakeets usually find holes in trees for nesting. They also form nesting tunnels in dead palm fronds. The female lays four to five eggs. After raising their young, all birds form rather large communal roosts until the next breeding season.

Gallery

File:Periquito-rico (Brotogeris tirica).jpg File:Brotogeris chiriri -3-2cp.jpg File:Brotogeris chiriri on Erythrina velutina (9606886301).jpg File:Flickr - Dario Sanches - PERIQUITO-DE-ENCONTRO-AMARELO (Brotogeris chiriri ).jpg File:Yellow Chevroned Parakeet (43647467525).jpg File:Brotogeris chiriri on Erythrina velutina (9610118954).jpg

References

External links

Yellow-chevroned Parakeet videos
on the Internet Bird Collection

VIREO ttp://vireo.acnatsci.org/species_image.php?species=Brotogeris+chiriri Photo-High Res--(Close-up)* ttps://web.archive.org/web/20070612190142/http://chandra.as.utexas.edu/~kormendy/brazilss/YellowChevronParakeet1387ss.jpg Photo-High Resbr>Article
chandra.as.utexas.edu

yellow-chevroned parakeet The yellow-chevroned parakeet (''Brotogeris chiriri'') is native to tropical South America south of the Amazon River basin from central Brazil to southern Bolivia, Paraguay, and northern Argentina. Caged birds have been released in some areas, a ...

Birds of the Cerrado Birds of the Pantanal Birds of Brazil Birds of Bolivia Birds of Paraguay Feral parrots

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Description

Diet

Gallery

References

Further reading

External links