Brown-headed Parrot - BirdForum Opus

Poicephalus cryptoxanthus

Photo by safariranger
Kruger National Park, South Africa, April 2006

Identification

22 cm

• Green body
• Brown head, nape and throat
• Yellow underwing
• Brownish-green tail
• Black-tipped white bill
• Grey-yellow iris
• Dark grey legs

Distribution

Photo by Alan Manson
Kruger National Park, South Africa, October 2008

Africa
Eastern Africa: found in Somalia, Kenya, Tanzania, Zambia, Mozambique and Malawi
Southern Africa: Zimbabwe, South Africa, KwaZulu-Natal and eSwatini

Taxonomy

Subspecies^[1]

Poicephalus cryptoxanthus has two 2 subspecies:

• P. c. tanganyikae

• South-eastern Kenya to Malawi, northern Mozambique, Zanzibar and Pemba Island

• P. c. cryptoxanthus

• South-eastern Zimbabwe and southern Mozambique to north-eastern South Africa

Habitat

Savanna, open woodland and riverine forest.

Behaviour

Diet

The diet includes fruit, seeds, nuts, flowers, shoots, insect larvae and nectar.

Breeding

They nest in a tree cavity. The 2-4 glossy white eggs are laid 3 days apart; incubation lasts 28 days.

References

1. Clements, JF. 2008. The Clements Checklist of Birds of the World. 6th ed., with updates to December 2008. Ithaca: Cornell Univ. Press. ISBN 978-0801445019.
2. Hockey, PAR, WRJ Dean, and PG Ryan, eds. 2005. Roberts' Birds of Southern Africa. 7th ed. Cape Town: John Voelcker Bird Book Fund. ISBN 978-0620340533
3. Sinclair, I and P Ryan. 2003. Birds of Africa South of the Sahara. Princeton: Princeton Univ. Press. ISBN 978-0691118154
4. Brownheadparrot.tripod

• List of references

Recommended Citation

• BirdForum Opus contributors. (2025) Brown-headed Parrot. In: BirdForum, the forum for wild birds and birding. Retrieved 12 May 2025 from https://www.birdforum.net/opus/Brown-headed_Parrot

External Links

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