The barred parakeet (''Bolborhynchus lineola''), also known as the lineolated parakeet (commonly nicknamed the "Linnie") or the Catherine parakeet, is a small
psittaciforme bird found in the highland forests of tropical
Latin America
Latin America is the cultural region of the Americas where Romance languages are predominantly spoken, primarily Spanish language, Spanish and Portuguese language, Portuguese. Latin America is defined according to cultural identity, not geogr ...
. Its
plumage
Plumage () is a layer of feathers that covers a bird and the pattern, colour, and arrangement of those feathers. The pattern and colours of plumage differ between species and subspecies and may vary with age classes. Within species, there can b ...
is mostly green, with multiple black or dark green stripes and bars and a pale, peach-colored
bill
Bill(s) may refer to:
Common meanings
* Banknote, paper cash (especially in the United States)
* Bill (law), a proposed law put before a legislature
* Invoice, commercial document issued by a seller to a buyer
* Bill, a bird or animal's beak
Pl ...
. The darker stripes vary in prominence and intensity between the two
subspecies
In Taxonomy (biology), biological classification, subspecies (: subspecies) is a rank below species, used for populations that live in different areas and vary in size, shape, or other physical characteristics (Morphology (biology), morpholog ...
. Several
color mutations
The propagation of grapevines is an important consideration in commercial viticulture and winemaking. Grapevines, most of which belong to the ''Vitis vinifera'' family, produce one crop of fruit each growing season with a limited life span for ind ...
(morphs) are available in
aviculture
Aviculture is the practice of keeping and breeding birds, especially of wild birds in captivity.
Aviculture
Aviculture is the practice of keeping birds (class '' Aves'') in captivity in controlled conditions, normally within the confines of a ...
, as it has become a popular captive bird species.
The species has a
disjunct distribution
In biology, a taxon with a disjunct distribution is one that has two or more groups that are related but considerably separated from each other geographically. The causes are varied and might demonstrate either the expansion or contraction of a s ...
, found from southern
México
Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...
south through
Panamá; in South America, it is found both in the
Santa Marta Mountains of
Colombia
Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country primarily located in South America with Insular region of Colombia, insular regions in North America. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Caribbean Sea to the north, Venezuel ...
and the
Venezuelan Coastal Range
The Venezuelan Coastal Range ( or ), also known as Venezuelan Caribbean Mountain System (), is a mountain range system and one of the eight natural regions of Venezuela, that runs along the central and eastern portions of Venezuela's northern coa ...
, as well as the forests of the
Andean foothills (from western
Venezuela
Venezuela, officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many Federal Dependencies of Venezuela, islands and islets in the Caribbean Sea. It com ...
south to
Perú
Peru, officially the Republic of Peru, is a country in western South America. It is bordered in the north by Ecuador and Colombia, in the east by Brazil, in the southeast by Bolivia, in the south by Chile, and in the south and west by the Pac ...
and
Bolivia
Bolivia, officially the Plurinational State of Bolivia, is a landlocked country located in central South America. The country features diverse geography, including vast Amazonian plains, tropical lowlands, mountains, the Gran Chaco Province, w ...
).
Taxonomy
There are two subspecies of the barred parakeet:
*''Bolborhynchus lineola''
(Cassin 1853)[
**''Bolborhynchus l. lineola'' (Cassin 1853)][
**''Bolborhynchus lineola tigrinus'' (Souance 1856)][ – ''tigrinus'' (meaning 'tiger'), as this subspecies has more prominent dark striping.][
]
Description
The barred parakeet is about 16 cm (6.5 in) in length and has a weight of about 42 to 52 grams.[Forshaw (2006). plate 92.] It is mostly green and has black stripes (or bars) over its upper-parts, except on the top of the head.[ Its lower-parts are olive-green with very dark green stripes on its sides.][ The shoulder of its wings is black, there is some blue on the under-side of its wings, and its tail is dark green. The irises are dark brown and its beak is horn coloured.][ Its legs are pink.][ Juveniles have less-marked dark stripes, which darken with age. Males and females are generally similar in external appearance, but males may sometimes have more marked black stripes than the female.] Usually, however, there is no discerning trait to differentiate sex and sexing must be done surgically or through blood tests. The two subspecies differ in the prominence of the dark stripes.[
]
Habitat and status
Their habitat is the forests and mountains up to an elevation of roughly above sea level. They spend some of their time on the ground, but sleep high in the trees. They are tolerant of cold and have been seen taking snow baths.
The barred parakeet has a large population that is thought to be stable.
Behavior and breeding
There are usually two to four eggs in a clutch, which hatch after about 18–21 days of incubation. Chicks leave the nest at about five weeks after hatching.
Lineolated parakeets are found in the wild in groups of 6-30, although bigger groups (up to 150 birds) are known. They eat fruit, dried and germinated seeds, and insect larvae.
Lineolated parakeets are known for their calm dispositions and peculiar postures. Unlike many birds, lineolateds typically rest in a near horizontal position with their heads almost in line with their tails. They are generally very calm birds and typically mumble quietly, and their calls are not high-pitched or piercing to the ear.
Aviculture
Barred parakeets are popular as pet
A pet, or companion animal, is an animal kept primarily for a person's company or entertainment rather than as a working animal, livestock, or a laboratory animal. Popular pets are often considered to have attractive/ cute appearances, inte ...
s because of their quiet and even-tempered disposition, and also because many colour mutations are available. Green series birds include the normal green (wild type), dark green, olive, and the green series ino called lutino (yellow). Turquoise series birds include turquoise, cobalt, mauve, and the turquoise ino called creamino (white). Greywing, where the barring and overall color is diluted, is another mutation that can fall on any color mutation, even the inos. Violet, misty, and cinnamon types are seen in European aviculture, but rare in the United States. Their average lifespan is about 10 years, but individual birds have been known to live up to 15 years. They are talented mimics of human speech.
One of the most recognizable and entertaining characteristics of barred parakeets is that they enjoy bathing and being misted with water. Barred parakeets notably enjoy these mist baths; they will hang upside down and open their wings eagerly. Pet linnies are also known to have a unique trait of liking to burrow or hide in or under clothing for hours on end, and will sometimes fall asleep in their found hiding places.
Image:lineolated juji.jpg, Lutino
Image:Bolborhynchus lineola.jpg, Turquoise
Image:Mazout 3 .jpg, Grey/Mauve
Image:Bolborhynchus lineola kobalt.JPG, Blue/Cobalt
Learning to talk
Lineolated parakeets are known for their soft chatter and low noise levels, making them ideal apartment pets. They can sometimes make louder noises, but this is normally due to distress or their food dish running low.
These birds are also known for their ability to talk and imitate noises. Not all individuals will speak, and normally the male of the species is more vocal; but there are ways to increase the chance of a bird learning words or sounds, including:
: Starting when the birds are young. Normally they learn the most words while they are less than two years old or moved into a new environment.
: Using imitation games, which start by rewarding the bird after it imitates a noise that the bird is already known to make and then moving on to words or noises once the bird has caught on to the game.
: Saying phrases in an excited noise or when the bird is in an excited state.
: Having the bird spend time with a bird that is a known talker, especially if it is the same species.
Sometimes they will mimic a specific person's tone, normally the person they spend the most time with. They might additionally learn to imitate noises that are undesirable for them to repeat. Unwanted vocalizations can be minimised by not rewarding the bird with laughter or attention, or redirecting by getting the bird to perform another known trick.
Food for pets
Pellets are an ideal base for not only lineolated parakeets, but for many other pet birds as well, as they contain many of the essential vitamins and nutrients the birds need. Seeds should be fed as a branch of the diet but not as a staple, as a seed-based diet can cause obesity, malnutrition, and kidney failure. Green-leaved vegetables such as kale
Kale (), also called leaf cabbage, belongs to a group of cabbage (''Brassica oleracea'') cultivars primarily grown for their Leaf vegetable, edible leaves; it has also been used as an ornamental plant. Its multiple different cultivars vary quite ...
, collard greens
Collard is a group of loose-leafed cultivars of ''Brassica oleracea'' (the same species as many common vegetables like cabbage and broccoli). Part of the acephala cultivar group (or kale group), collard is also classified as the variety ''B.& ...
, and turnip greens, as well as broccoli
Broccoli (''Brassica oleracea'' var. ''italica'') is an edible green plant in the Brassicaceae, cabbage family (family Brassicaceae, genus ''Brassica'') whose large Pseudanthium, flowering head, plant stem, stalk and small associated leafy gre ...
, carrot
The carrot ('' Daucus carota'' subsp. ''sativus'') is a root vegetable, typically orange in colour, though heirloom variants including purple, black, red, white, and yellow cultivars exist, all of which are domesticated forms of the wild ...
, and cauliflower
Cauliflower is one of several vegetables cultivated from the species '' Brassica oleracea'' in the genus '' Brassica'', which is in the Brassicaceae (or mustard) family. Cauliflower usually grows with one main stem that carries a large, rou ...
, are readily consumed. Common fruits that are offered include banana
A banana is an elongated, edible fruit – botanically a berry – produced by several kinds of large treelike herbaceous flowering plants in the genus '' Musa''. In some countries, cooking bananas are called plantains, distinguishing the ...
, papaya
The papaya (, ), papaw, () or pawpaw () is the plant species ''Carica papaya'', one of the 21 accepted species in the genus '' Carica'' of the family Caricaceae, and also the name of its fruit. It was first domesticated in Mesoamerica, within ...
, apple
An apple is a round, edible fruit produced by an apple tree (''Malus'' spp.). Fruit trees of the orchard or domestic apple (''Malus domestica''), the most widely grown in the genus, are agriculture, cultivated worldwide. The tree originated ...
, apricot
An apricot (, ) is a fruit, or the tree that bears the fruit, of several species in the genus ''Prunus''.
Usually an apricot is from the species '' P. armeniaca'', but the fruits of the other species in ''Prunus'' sect. ''Armeniaca'' are also ...
, and orange. Hemp
Hemp, or industrial hemp, is a plant in the botanical class of ''Cannabis sativa'' cultivars grown specifically for industrial and consumable use. It can be used to make a wide range of products. Along with bamboo, hemp is among the fastest ...
, roasted soybeans
The soybean, soy bean, or soya bean (''Glycine max'') is a species of legume native to East Asia, widely grown for its edible bean. Soy is a staple crop, the world's most grown legume, and an important animal feed.
Soy is a key source of f ...
, potatoes
The potato () is a starchy tuberous vegetable native to the Americas that is consumed as a staple food in many parts of the world. Potatoes are underground stem tubers of the plant ''Solanum tuberosum'', a perennial in the nightshade famil ...
, green peas, strawberries
The garden strawberry (or simply strawberry; ''Fragaria × ananassa'') is a widely grown hybrid plant cultivated worldwide for its fruit. The genus ''Fragaria'', the strawberries, is in the rose family, Rosaceae. The fruit is appreciated f ...
, coconut
The coconut tree (''Cocos nucifera'') is a member of the palm tree family (biology), family (Arecaceae) and the only living species of the genus ''Cocos''. The term "coconut" (or the archaic "cocoanut") can refer to the whole coconut palm, ...
, pumpkin seed
A pumpkin seed, also known as a ''pepita'' (from the Mexican , 'little seed of squash'), is the edible seed of a pumpkin or certain other cultivars of squash. The seeds are typically flat and oval with two axes of symmetry, have a white outer ...
and alfalfa
Alfalfa () (''Medicago sativa''), also called lucerne, is a perennial plant, perennial flowering plant in the legume family Fabaceae. It is cultivated as an important forage crop in many countries around the world. It is used for grazing, hay, ...
, are other foods that are consumable. It is good to offer different foods to keep the diet balanced. All parrots in captivity should be encouraged to forage for their food in order to keep them from boredom and behavioural problems.
Toxic foods
Owners should avoid feeding their birds anything high in salt
In common usage, salt is a mineral composed primarily of sodium chloride (NaCl). When used in food, especially in granulated form, it is more formally called table salt. In the form of a natural crystalline mineral, salt is also known as r ...
, sugar
Sugar is the generic name for sweet-tasting, soluble carbohydrates, many of which are used in food. Simple sugars, also called monosaccharides, include glucose
Glucose is a sugar with the Chemical formula#Molecular formula, molecul ...
, and fat
In nutrition science, nutrition, biology, and chemistry, fat usually means any ester of fatty acids, or a mixture of such chemical compound, compounds, most commonly those that occur in living beings or in food.
The term often refers specif ...
.
Common toxic foods include avocado
The avocado, alligator pear or avocado pear (''Persea americana'') is an evergreen tree in the laurel family (Lauraceae). It is native to Americas, the Americas and was first domesticated in Mesoamerica more than 5,000 years ago. It was priz ...
and guacamole
Guacamole (; informally shortened to ''guac'' in the United States since the 1980s) is an avocado-based dip, spread, or salad first developed in Mexico. In addition to its use in modern Mexican cuisine, it has become part of international cuisin ...
, substances containing caffeine (such as tea
Tea is an aromatic beverage prepared by pouring hot or boiling water over cured or fresh leaves of '' Camellia sinensis'', an evergreen shrub native to East Asia which probably originated in the borderlands of south-western China and nor ...
and coffee
Coffee is a beverage brewed from roasted, ground coffee beans. Darkly colored, bitter, and slightly acidic, coffee has a stimulating effect on humans, primarily due to its caffeine content, but decaffeinated coffee is also commercially a ...
), fruit pits and apple seeds (which contain amounts of cyanide
In chemistry, cyanide () is an inorganic chemical compound that contains a functional group. This group, known as the cyano group, consists of a carbon atom triple-bonded to a nitrogen atom.
Ionic cyanides contain the cyanide anion . This a ...
), persimmons
The persimmon () is the edible fruit of a number of species of trees in the genus ''Diospyros''. The most widely cultivated of these is the Chinese and Japanese kaki persimmon, ''Diospyros kaki''. In 2022, China produced 77% of the world's pe ...
, onions
An onion (''Allium cepa'' , from Latin ), also known as the bulb onion or common onion, is a vegetable that is the most widely cultivated species of the genus ''Allium''. The shallot is a botanical variety of the onion which was classified ...
(prolonged exposure can lead to a blood condition called hemolytic anemia
Hemolytic anemia or haemolytic anaemia is a form of anemia due to hemolysis, the abnormal breakdown of red blood cells (RBCs), either in the blood vessels (intravascular hemolysis) or elsewhere in the human body (extravascular). This most commonl ...
), mushrooms
A mushroom or toadstool is the fleshy, spore-bearing fruiting body of a fungus, typically produced above ground on soil or another food source. ''Toadstool'' generally refers to a poisonous mushroom.
The standard for the name "mushroom" is ...
(cause digestion problems and can induce liver failure
Liver failure is the inability of the liver to perform its normal synthetic and metabolic functions as part of normal physiology. Two forms are recognised, acute and chronic (cirrhosis). Recently, a third form of liver failure known as acute- ...
), dried/uncooked beans
A bean is the seed of some plants in the legume family (Fabaceae) used as a vegetable for human consumption or animal feed. The seeds are often preserved through drying (a ''pulse''), but fresh beans are also sold. Dried beans are tradition ...
(contain hemaglutin, toxic to birds), the stems, vines, and leaves of tomatoes
The tomato (, ), ''Solanum lycopersicum'', is a plant whose fruit is an edible berry that is eaten as a vegetable. The tomato is a member of the nightshade family that includes tobacco, potato, and chili peppers. It originated from and was d ...
(the actual fruit is fine), and eggplant
Eggplant (American English, US, Canadian English, CA, Australian English, AU, Philippine English, PH), aubergine (British English, UK, Hiberno English, IE, New Zealand English, NZ), brinjal (Indian English, IN, Singapore English, SG, Malays ...
.
References
Cited texts
*
*
External links
Parrot Encyclopedia - species profiles
World Parrot Trust, parrots.org
Care information, species profile, diet, breeding, medical care for Barred Parakeets / Lineolated Parakeets
at BarredParakeets.com
{{Taxonbar, from=Q911080
barred parakeet
The barred parakeet (''Bolborhynchus lineola''), also known as the lineolated parakeet (commonly nicknamed the "Linnie") or the Catherine parakeet, is a small psittaciforme bird found in the highland forests of tropical Latin America. Its plumag ...
Talking birds
Birds of Mexico
Birds of Guatemala
Birds of Honduras
Birds of Nicaragua
Birds of Costa Rica
Birds of Panama
Birds of Central America
Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class (biology), class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the Oviparity, laying of Eggshell, hard-shelled eggs, a high Metabolism, metabolic rate, a fou ...
Parakeets
Parrots of South America
Birds of the Northern Andes
barred parakeet
The barred parakeet (''Bolborhynchus lineola''), also known as the lineolated parakeet (commonly nicknamed the "Linnie") or the Catherine parakeet, is a small psittaciforme bird found in the highland forests of tropical Latin America. Its plumag ...
barred parakeet
The barred parakeet (''Bolborhynchus lineola''), also known as the lineolated parakeet (commonly nicknamed the "Linnie") or the Catherine parakeet, is a small psittaciforme bird found in the highland forests of tropical Latin America. Its plumag ...