The bronze-winged parrot (''Pionus chalcopterus'') is a medium-sized

pionus ''Pionus'' is a genus of medium-sized parrots native to Mexico, and Central and South America. Characteristic of the genus are the chunky body, bare eye ring (which can vary in color), and short square tail. They are superficially similar to Am ...

parrot 28 cm (11 in) long. It is a short-tailed stocky

parrot Parrots (Psittaciformes), also known as psittacines (), are birds with a strong curved beak, upright stance, and clawed feet. They are classified in four families that contain roughly 410 species in 101 genus (biology), genera, found mostly in ...

found in forest and woodland in north-western

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a considerably smaller portion in the Northern Hemisphere. It can also be described as the southern Subregion#Americas, subregion o ...

Description

The bronze-winged parrot is mainly dark with a whitish chin patch and its upper chest is speckled with pink feathers. It has short red undertail feathers. The rump, tail and wings are dark blue with lighter blue underwings. The head is dark blue-green; the mantle, back and underparts are dark bronze-green with some blue tipped feathers and sometimes scattered red feathers. Its beak is pale yellow. In adults the ring of bare skin around the eyes is pink. Juveniles have whitish eyerings and their underparts are brownish.

Taxonomy

Today most authorities consider this species as

monotypic In biology, a monotypic taxon is a taxonomic group (taxon) that contains only one immediately subordinate taxon. A monotypic species is one that does not include subspecies or smaller, infraspecific taxa. In the case of genera, the term "unisp ...

, but some continue to recognize two

subspecies In Taxonomy (biology), biological classification, subspecies (: subspecies) is a rank below species, used for populations that live in different areas and vary in size, shape, or other physical characteristics (Morphology (biology), morpholog ...

: * ''P. c. chalcopterus'': west

Venezuela Venezuela, officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many Federal Dependencies of Venezuela, islands and islets in the Caribbean Sea. It com ...

, and north and central

Colombia Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country primarily located in South America with Insular region of Colombia, insular regions in North America. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Caribbean Sea to the north, Venezuel ...

. * ''P. b. cyanescens'': south-west Colombia, west

Ecuador Ecuador, officially the Republic of Ecuador, is a country in northwestern South America, bordered by Colombia on the north, Peru on the east and south, and the Pacific Ocean on the west. It also includes the Galápagos Province which contain ...

, and north-west

Peru Peru, officially the Republic of Peru, is a country in western South America. It is bordered in the north by Ecuador and Colombia, in the east by Brazil, in the southeast by Bolivia, in the south by Chile, and in the south and west by the Pac ...

. Reputedly with broader blue margins on feathers, chin patch and surrounding ring smaller and less distinct.

Range and habitat

The bronze-winged parrot is found in far western Venezuela, western and central Colombia, western Ecuador and far north-western Peru. In Venezuela it mainly occurs at altitudes of 900–1400 m, in Colombia it mainly occurs at altitudes of 1400–2400 m (occasionally as high as 2800 m), in Ecuador mainly below 1400 m, and in Peru below 800 m. It generally prefers the

canopy Canopy may refer to: Plants * Canopy (biology), aboveground portion of plant community or crop (including forests) * Canopy (grape), aboveground portion of grapes Religion and ceremonies * Baldachin or canopy of state, typically placed over an a ...

of forest and woodland (both humid and semi-

deciduous In the fields of horticulture and botany, the term deciduous () means "falling off at maturity" and "tending to fall off", in reference to trees and shrubs that seasonally shed Leaf, leaves, usually in the autumn; to the shedding of petals, aft ...

), but also occurs in adjacent habitats with tall trees. It appears to be rather nomadic in parts of its range, but the movements (possibly only in response to the availability of food) are generally poorly understood.

Behavior

It is typically seen in pairs of small groups of up to ten birds. The bronze-winged parrot nests in tree cavities. The eggs are white and there are usually three to four in a clutch. The female incubates the eggs for about 26 days and the chicks leave the nest about 70 days after hatching.

In the media

Bronze-winged parrots have received little attention in the media. Evie, a three-year-old, female bronze-winged parrot, is featured in the television show ''Dr. K's exotic animal ER'', on Nat Geo Wild Network, as the personal pet of Dr. Lauren Thielen. Sora, a young, male bronze-winged parrot, is one of the mascots of Tiktoker and Youtuber Five's A Flock.

References

* Juniper & Parr (1998) ''Parrots: A Guide to Parrots of the World''; . {{Taxonbar, from=Q850014 bronze-winged parrot Birds of the Serranía del Perijá Birds of Colombia Birds of Ecuador bronze-winged parrot bronze-winged parrot