Blue-chested Parakeet
Encyclopedia
Pyrrhura cruentata is a species of parakeet
known by the common names Ochre-marked Parakeet, Blue-throated Parakeet, and Red-eared Conure in English and Cotorra Tiriba and Perico Grande in Spanish.
It is listed as Vulnerable (VU) on the IUCN Red List
.
It is native to Brazil
.
. Feeding on agricultural crops has not been observed in the wild. Breeding apparently occurs in the austral spring, when 2-4 eggs are laid in a tree-cavity.
, Espírito Santo
, east Minas Gerais
and Rio de Janeiro
, Brazil. Its current distribution is highly fragmented and now mostly restricted to isolated reserves. The stronghold is the Sooretama Biological Reserve and adjacent Linhares Forest Reserve, Espírito Santo. It remains common in Estação Vera Cruz (formerly the Porto Seguro Reserve), Bahia. Elsewhere it can be relatively common, but numbers in the large Chapada da Diamantina and Monte Pascoal National Parks, Bahia, appear low.
is responsible for its current fragmented distribution. Its apparent tolerance of shade cacao plantations provides little hope because shading techniques since the 1980s have involved the use of banana and Erythryna trees, rather than standing forest, and unstable prices have resulted in conversion to pasture. Many remaining populations are now affected by site-specific threats such as conflicts between habitat conservation and the rights of local communities in Monte Pascoal National Park. Trapping for the cage-bird trade is a relatively new phenomenon, but the species is rare in national and international markets.
Parakeet
Parakeet is a term for any one of a large number of unrelated small to medium sized species of parrot, that generally have long tail feathers...
known by the common names Ochre-marked Parakeet, Blue-throated Parakeet, and Red-eared Conure in English and Cotorra Tiriba and Perico Grande in Spanish.
It is listed as Vulnerable (VU) on the IUCN Red List
IUCN Red List
The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species , founded in 1963, is the world's most comprehensive inventory of the global conservation status of biological species. The International Union for Conservation of Nature is the world's main authority on the conservation status of species...
.
It is native to Brazil
Brazil
Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...
.
Description
This colourful parakeet is a predominantly green bird with conspicuous red patches on its belly, rump, and shoulder and before, below and behind the eye. The crown is dark brown to blackish, becoming mottled on the nape of the neck, and there is a broad, bright blue bib on the chest, extending thinly around the back of the neck to form a faint collar. The outer primaries are blue, and the tail is olive-green above, and brownish red below.Habitat
It inhabits the canopy of lowland humid forest and edge, occasionally up to 960 meters. It has also been recorded in small clearings and selectively logged forest, and persists (or at least persisted) in agricultural areas where many forest trees are retained (such as shade cocoa plantations). It feeds on seeds and fruit of secondary growth trees such as Trema micrantha and CecropiaCecropia
Cecropia is a Neotropical genus presently consisting of sixty-one recognized species with a highly distinctive lineage of dioecious trees....
. Feeding on agricultural crops has not been observed in the wild. Breeding apparently occurs in the austral spring, when 2-4 eggs are laid in a tree-cavity.
Distribution
Pyrrhura cruentata was formerly common throughout much of south-east BahiaBahia
Bahia is one of the 26 states of Brazil, and is located in the northeastern part of the country on the Atlantic coast. It is the fourth most populous Brazilian state after São Paulo, Minas Gerais and Rio de Janeiro, and the fifth-largest in size...
, Espírito Santo
Espírito Santo
Espírito Santo is one of the states of southeastern Brazil, often referred to by the abbreviation "ES". Its capital is Vitória and the largest city is Vila Velha. The name of the state means literally "holy spirit" after the Holy Ghost of Christianity...
, east Minas Gerais
Minas Gerais
Minas Gerais is one of the 26 states of Brazil, of which it is the second most populous, the third richest, and the fourth largest in area. Minas Gerais is the Brazilian state with the largest number of Presidents of Brazil, the current one, Dilma Rousseff, being one of them. The capital is the...
and Rio de Janeiro
Rio de Janeiro
Rio de Janeiro , commonly referred to simply as Rio, is the capital city of the State of Rio de Janeiro, the second largest city of Brazil, and the third largest metropolitan area and agglomeration in South America, boasting approximately 6.3 million people within the city proper, making it the 6th...
, Brazil. Its current distribution is highly fragmented and now mostly restricted to isolated reserves. The stronghold is the Sooretama Biological Reserve and adjacent Linhares Forest Reserve, Espírito Santo. It remains common in Estação Vera Cruz (formerly the Porto Seguro Reserve), Bahia. Elsewhere it can be relatively common, but numbers in the large Chapada da Diamantina and Monte Pascoal National Parks, Bahia, appear low.
Population
The population is estimated at 4.8 to 41 individuals per square kilometer times 1030 square kilometers for a total between 4944 and 42,230 individuals. It is best placed within the band 2500-9999 individuals.(Marsden et al. [2000]).Threats
Extensive and continuing forest clearanceDeforestation
Deforestation is the removal of a forest or stand of trees where the land is thereafter converted to a nonforest use. Examples of deforestation include conversion of forestland to farms, ranches, or urban use....
is responsible for its current fragmented distribution. Its apparent tolerance of shade cacao plantations provides little hope because shading techniques since the 1980s have involved the use of banana and Erythryna trees, rather than standing forest, and unstable prices have resulted in conversion to pasture. Many remaining populations are now affected by site-specific threats such as conflicts between habitat conservation and the rights of local communities in Monte Pascoal National Park. Trapping for the cage-bird trade is a relatively new phenomenon, but the species is rare in national and international markets.