Taranta Parrot

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Taranta Parrot
female and male taranta parrot

female and male taranta parrot

Systematics
Class : Birds (aves)
Order : Parrots (Psittaciformes)
Family : True parrots (Psittacidae)
Subfamily : Eclectic parrots (Psittaculinae)
Genre : Inseparable ( agapornis )
Type : Taranta Parrot
Scientific name
Agapornis taranta
( Stanley , 1814)

The mountain parrot ( Agapornis taranta ), also Taranta- or Tarantinerpapagei called, is a kind of the genus of Unzertrennlichen . Together with the other species of this genus, as well as the gray parrot , the long wing parrots , the Rose-ringed Parakeet and Madagascar endemic Vasa Parrots this type is a typical parrot species of Afrotropical .

description

The body length of the mountain parrots is 16 to 17 cm. Thus it is the largest type of agapornid . The males weigh an average of 44 grams, while the females weigh 53 grams. In both sexes, the basic color of the body plumage is green. Otherwise, mountain parrots show a sexual dimorphism in their body plumage . Red feathers are only found in males. His forehead, the reins of the eyes and a narrow ring around the eyes are red. The female lacks any red feathers and sometimes has black spots. In both sexes, the beak is bright red in color. The iris is dark brown. The wing feathers are black on the underside.

The species can live between 10 and 15 years.

distribution and habitat

The range of the mountain parrots extends to the highlands of Abyssinia in Ethiopia and Eritrea . There they colonize the wooded plateaus at altitudes between 1,300 and 3,200 meters above sea level.

They live in families of three to eight animals on the edges of evergreen mountain forests. The crowns of tall trees are preferred, here they like to sleep in tree hollows at night. In lower elevations they mainly inhabit grassy savannahs and acacia forests . They are also found in some urban areas.

Lifestyle and diet

When the figs ripen , they come into the valleys in groups of up to 10 animals. You seldom approach human settlements here. The rest of the food consists of seeds , berries and fruits , but they also eat juniper berries . That is why they are sometimes considered a pest.

Reproduction

Mountain parrots have an unusual way of transporting nesting material to the breeding site. They clamp the twigs, bark and other parts of the plant in the plumage. While the peach head , strawberry head and black head build cobel-shaped nests with a side entrance, the nest of the mountain parrot, similar to the gray-headed parrot, consists only of a kind of nesting pad. They nest individually in knotholes and are not tied to a fixed breeding season. Only a few centimeters high layer of the nesting material is laid out in the nest cavity, on which 3 to 5, rarely 6 eggs are then placed in a hollow. The female incubates while the male feeds her for about 24 to 25 days. When the young hatch, they have a white down, which is later replaced by a gray. After about 6 to 8 weeks they leave the nest and are then completely airworthy. The male provides them with food for a few weeks after they have left the country.

attitude

Mountain parrots were first imported as ornamental birds at the beginning of the 19th century. As early as 1809, mountain parrots were bred in human care for the first time in Austria. After that, offspring were only irregular. Mountain parrots are therefore among those birds that are rarely kept in human care.

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Low, p. 171
  2. ↑ Lantermann, p. 461
  3. ^ Low, p. 172

Web links

Commons : Parrot Tarantula  - album with pictures, videos and audio files