Canary-winged Parakeet
Encyclopedia
The White-winged Parakeet (Brotogeris versicolurus), also known as the 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 established self sustaining populations in Lima, Peru, the Los Angeles
, San Francisco, California
and Miami, Florida
areas of the United States, and in Puerto Rico
. Although feral birds are showing some recent declines as nesters in the United States, they seem to be doing well in their native habitat.
, and the two have often been considered conspecific.
and fruit
in its native habitat, and feral
populations have adapted to take in blossoms and nectar. Feral birds will also come to bird feeders. Wild birds primarily use disturbed forest and forest clearings around settlements. It rarely uses deep tropical forest.
Clutches usually consist of four to five white eggs, which hatch after about 26 days of incubation. Chicks leave the nest about 45 days after hatching. After raising its young, all birds will form rather large communal roosts until the next breeding season.
Parrot
Parrots, also known as psittacines , are birds of the roughly 372 species in 86 genera that make up the order Psittaciformes, found in most tropical and subtropical regions. The order is subdivided into three families: the Psittacidae , the Cacatuidae and the Strigopidae...
native to the Amazon River
Amazon River
The Amazon of South America is the second longest river in the world and by far the largest by waterflow with an average discharge greater than the next seven largest rivers combined...
basin from southeast Colombia
Colombia
Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia , is a unitary constitutional republic comprising thirty-two departments. The country is located in northwestern South America, bordered to the east by Venezuela and Brazil; to the south by Ecuador and Peru; to the north by the Caribbean Sea; to the...
to the River’s mouth
Wildlife corridor
A wildlife corridor or green corridor is an area of habitat connecting wildlife populations separated by human activities . This allows an exchange of individuals between populations, which may help prevent the negative effects of inbreeding and reduced genetic diversity that often occur within...
in 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...
. Caged birds have been released and the birds have established self sustaining populations in Lima, Peru, the Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
, San Francisco, California
San Francisco, California
San Francisco , officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the financial, cultural, and transportation center of the San Francisco Bay Area, a region of 7.15 million people which includes San Jose and Oakland...
and Miami, Florida
Miami, Florida
Miami is a city located on the Atlantic coast in southeastern Florida and the county seat of Miami-Dade County, the most populous county in Florida and the eighth-most populous county in the United States with a population of 2,500,625...
areas of the United States, and in Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico , officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico , is an unincorporated territory of the United States, located in the northeastern Caribbean, east of the Dominican Republic and west of both the United States Virgin Islands and the British Virgin Islands.Puerto Rico comprises an...
. Although feral birds are showing some recent declines as nesters in the United States, they seem to be doing well in their native habitat.
Description
The White-winged Parakeet is 22 cm in length, and is mostly green in color. It has a trailing yellow edge on its folded wings. Its most distinguished characteristic is the white wing patches most noticed when the bird is in flight. It is closely related to the Yellow-chevroned ParakeetYellow-chevroned Parakeet
The Yellow-chevroned Parakeet 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 and the birds have established self sustaining populations in the Los Angeles,...
, and the two have often been considered conspecific.
Food and feeding
The White-winged Parakeet feeds mostly on wormsWorm
The term worm refers to an obsolete taxon used by Carolus Linnaeus and Jean-Baptiste Lamarck for all non-arthropod invertebrate animals, and stems from the Old English word wyrm. Currently it is used to describe many different distantly-related animals that typically have a long cylindrical...
and fruit
Fruit
In broad terms, a fruit is a structure of a plant that contains its seeds.The term has different meanings dependent on context. In non-technical usage, such as food preparation, fruit normally means the fleshy seed-associated structures of certain plants that are sweet and edible in the raw state,...
in its native habitat, and feral
Feral
A feral organism is one that has changed from being domesticated to being wild or untamed. In the case of plants it is a movement from cultivated to uncultivated or controlled to volunteer. The introduction of feral animals or plants to their non-native regions, like any introduced species, may...
populations have adapted to take in blossoms and nectar. Feral birds will also come to bird feeders. Wild birds primarily use disturbed forest and forest clearings around settlements. It rarely uses deep tropical forest.
Breeding
The White-winged Parakeet usually finds a hole in a tree to nest in. It may also form a nesting tunnel in a dead palm frond.Clutches usually consist of four to five white eggs, which hatch after about 26 days of incubation. Chicks leave the nest about 45 days after hatching. After raising its young, all birds will form rather large communal roosts until the next breeding season.
