Parrot – brightly colored bird

Most of the birds of the parrot family are known for their colorful feathers, noisy calls, and curved beaks. They are among the world’s most popular pet birds.
The tiniest parrot is the pygmy parrot, which is only 8 centimeters long. The largest member of the family is a type of macaw that can be as much as 100 centimeters long.
Their unusual feet help them climb trees and grasp their food. Parrots eat mainly seeds, nuts, and fruits.
Parrots are found in most tropical regions of the world, especially in rainforests. These birds can live for 30 to 50 years.

Some parrots talk, sing, laugh, whistle and can echo human sounds and speech.
Kea, mountain parrot, lives only in New Zealand. The parrot lives high in the mountains, where there is snow and the icy wind blows in winter. In summer there are impenetrable fogs. It does not build nests, and lays eggs into crevices of rocks in the midst of the New Zealand winter – in June. Its main food is insects and their larvae, worms. This bird eats also nuts and fruits and at certain times of the year can eat nectar. And on occasion it doesn’t mind eating mutton fat.

The imperial parrot is a large parrot. An average adult measures 46 to 51 centimeters in length and weighs about 1 kilogram. It is green with a greenish–blue head and it has a red streak on its wingtips. The bird feeds primarily on seeds, fruit, young shoots, vines, and shrubs. Parrots mate for life. It is Dominica’s national bird.
The thick-billed parrot is about 38 centimeters long from head to tail. It is a bright green bird with red patches. Its legs and feet are gray and its bill is black. This parrot feeds mainly on the seeds of pine trees and also eats acorns, juniper berries, flower nectar, insects, and tree bark. Thick-billed parrots live in flocks.
Many types of parrots are endangered, because people have cut down the trees and catch birds to sell as pets.

The kakapo is a nocturnal, flightless member of the parrot family. It has an owl–like appearance and is also called the owl–parrot. The kakapo is the largest and heaviest of all parrots. It has an average length of 63 centimeters. Males can weigh as much as 3.5 kilograms, females are much lighter, weighing up to 1.5 kilograms. The color of the kakapo’s plumage is a mixture of yellow and light green. The bird feeds on many different kinds of plants and flowers. The female lays two to four eggs in a nest built out of vegetation and cares for the nestlings alone.
Lovebirds are small African parrots. This bird is primarily green, with a black face and cheeks and a white eye–ring. Its forehead is dusky–red. It feeds mainly on seeds, grass seeds, and leaves.
In the twentieth century, black–cheeked lovebirds have been trapped and sold around the world as caged pets. During a four–week period in 1929, as many as 16,000 of the birds were captured. Illegal trapping remains one of the biggest threats to the birds’ existence.

Parakeets are small parrots. The golden parakeet has a distinctive yellow–and–green plumage. Because these colors are the same as those making up the national flag of Brazil, some Brazilians believe the golden parakeet should be adopted as the national bird. It feeds on fruits, berries, seeds, nuts, and crops. Toucans prey on the golden parakeet’s eggs and young in clearings. In the forest, monkeys and snakes are its main predators.
Habitat destruction is the primary threat to the golden parakeet. Another serious threat to the golden parakeet is illegal capture.

Interesting facts
– There is a musical group Hatebeak, the vocalist of which is the parrot Waldo. There are already three albums of the group in death metal style.
– Parrots name their chicks.
– In Australia there are schools where parrots are taught to speak.
– Parrots can imitate different sounds: from a person’s voice to the noise of household appliances. They do this only with the beak and the tongue, because birds do not have vocal cords.
– The black cockatoo has the largest beak, which is up to 10 centimeters long.
– Macaw and cockatoos can fly up to 500 miles a day in search of food.
– Amazon parrot is the highest in the world. Its growth can reach one meter.
– The heart of wavy parrot beats 200 times a minute.
– Parrots were domesticated about three thousand years ago.
– In ancient Indian mythology, the parrot was a symbol of the moon.
– The free-living parrots were kept as watchmen.
– In Rome only rich people could have parrots. They were kept in precious cages and the price of a parrot often exceeded the price of a slave.
– The beak of a parrot was considered an amulet, protecting from a fever and demons.

Parrot – brightly colored bird

Parrots in art