Monk Parakeet - BirdForum Opus

Alternative name Quaker Parrot

Photo © by BirdsPeru
Buenos Aires, Argentina, September 2005

Myiopsitta monachus

Includes Cliff Parakeet

Identification

Photo © by Zackiedawg
Boca Raton, Florida, USA, 20 March 2021

L. 29 cm
Ws. 48 cm
Weight 100g
Females tend to be 10-20% smaller.

• Bright green upperparts
• Pale grey forehead and breast
• Light greenish-yellow underparts
• Dark blue flight feathers
• Long tapered tail
• Orange bill

Photo © by barrancoalto
Fazenda Barranco Alto, Pantanal, Brazil, September 2004

Distribution

South America: found in Bolivia, Paraguay, Brazil, Uruguay and Argentina.

Feral populations are located across North America and in several places in Europe and the [[Middle East]. These seems to have originated primarily from nominate M. m. monachus, but populations in North America also originated in part from subspecies M. m. cotorra.

Taxonomy

Communal Nest
Photo © by BirdsPeru
Buenos Aires, Argentina, September 2005

It is the only member of the genus Myiopsitta. There are four subspecies^[1]:

• M. m. cotorra:

• southeastern Bolivia, Paraguay, southwestern Brazil, and northwestern Argentina (Formosa, Chaco, Corrientes)

• M. m. monachus:

• South-eastern Brazil (Rio Grande do Sul), Uruguay and northeastern Argentina (Santa Fe to E Buenos Aires).

• M. m. calita:

• Western Argentina (Salta to western Córdoba, Mendoza and La Pampa)

• M. m. luchsi: sometimes split as Cliff Parakeet

• Xeric intermontane valleys of central Bolivia

Habitat

Bushes and trees in city parks.

Behaviour

Gregarious.

Diet

The diet includes seeds and maize crops.

Breeding

It builds a stick nest, in a tree or on a man-made structure. It often breeds colonially, building a single large nest, each pair having its own entrance. The clutch consists of 5-12 eggs which is incubated for about 24 days. M. m. luchsi differs in building nest colonies around bromeliads situated on steep cliff sides, even when more typical nest sites are available locally.

References

1. Clements, J. F., T. S. Schulenberg, M. J. Iliff, S. M. Billerman, T. A. Fredericks, J. A. Gerbracht, D. Lepage, B. L. Sullivan, and C. L. Wood. 2021. The eBird/Clements checklist of Birds of the World: v2021. Downloaded from https://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/download/
2. Birdloversonline
3. Wikipedia
4. Birdforum thread discussing the potential split of Cliff Parakeet

• List of references

Recommended Citation

• BirdForum Opus contributors. (2024) Monk Parakeet. In: BirdForum, the forum for wild birds and birding. Retrieved 8 November 2024 from https://www.birdforum.net/opus/Monk_Parakeet

External Links

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