The yellow-chevroned parakeet (''Brotogeris chiriri'') is native to tropical

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 ...

south of the Amazon River basin from central

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

to southern

Bolivia Bolivia, officially the Plurinational State of Bolivia, is a landlocked country located in central South America. The country features diverse geography, including vast Amazonian plains, tropical lowlands, mountains, the Gran Chaco Province, w ...

Paraguay Paraguay, officially the Republic of Paraguay, is a landlocked country in South America. It is bordered by Argentina to the Argentina–Paraguay border, south and southwest, Brazil to the Brazil–Paraguay border, east and northeast, and Boli ...

, and northern

Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...

. Caged birds have been released in some areas, and the birds have established self-sustaining populations in the

Miami, Florida Miami is a East Coast of the United States, coastal city in the U.S. state of Florida and the county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade County in South Florida. It is the core of the Miami metropolitan area, which, with a populat ...

, and

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

and

San Francisco, California San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

. This bird seems to be doing better in its North American feral population than the closely related

white-winged parakeet The white-winged parakeet (''Brotogeris versicolurus''), or canary-winged parakeet is a small parrot Parrots (Psittaciformes), also known as psittacines (), are birds with a strong curved beak, upright stance, and clawed feet. They are clas ...

. The species is also established in the downtown area of

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro, or simply Rio, is the capital of the Rio de Janeiro (state), state of Rio de Janeiro. It is the List of cities in Brazil by population, second-most-populous city in Brazil (after São Paulo) and the Largest cities in the America ...

, Brazil; and in

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires, controlled by the government of the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires, is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Argentina. It is located on the southwest of the Río de la Plata. Buenos Aires is classified as an Alpha− glob ...

, Argentina; where it was introduced. The native population in South America continues to do well.

Description

The bird is 20–25 cm in length, and is mostly light green in color. It has a trailing yellow edge on its folded wings, which is also seen when the bird is in flight. It was considered

conspecific Biological specificity is the tendency of a characteristic such as a behavior or a biochemical variation to occur in a particular species. Biochemist Linus Pauling stated that "Biological specificity is the set of characteristics of living organism ...

with the white-winged parakeet until 1997. Wild birds primarily use disturbed forests and forest clearings around settlements. They rarely use deep tropical forests.

Diet

The bird feeds mostly on

seeds In botany, a seed is a plant structure containing an embryo and stored nutrients in a protective coat called a ''testa''. More generally, the term "seed" means anything that can be sown, which may include seed and husk or tuber. Seeds are the ...

and

fruit In botany, a fruit is the seed-bearing structure in flowering plants (angiosperms) that is formed from the ovary after flowering. Fruits are the means by which angiosperms disseminate their seeds. Edible fruits in particular have long propaga ...

in its native habitat, and

feral A feral (; ) animal or plant is one that lives in the wild but is descended from domesticated individuals. As with an introduced species, the introduction of feral animals or plants to non-native regions may disrupt ecosystems and has, in som ...

populations have adapted to eat

blossoms In botany, blossoms are the flowers of stone fruit trees (genus ''Prunus'') and of some other plants with a similar appearance that flower profusely for a period of time in spring. Colloquially, flowers of orange are referred to as such as we ...

and

nectar Nectar is a viscous, sugar-rich liquid produced by Plant, plants in glands called nectaries, either within the flowers with which it attracts pollination, pollinating animals, or by extrafloral nectaries, which provide a nutrient source to an ...

. During dry periods, which often leads to fruit scarcity, the bird adapts by eating more seeds, particularly from the plant ''Erythrina dominguezii''. They also consume

Bombacaceae Bombacaceae were long recognised as a family of flowering plants or Angiospermae. The family name was based on the type genus '' Bombax''. As is true for many botanical names, circumscription and status of the taxon has varied with taxonomic poi ...

trees, commonly known as silk cotton trees, which is the most popular food choice for the parakeet. These birds have been observed participating in

geophagia Geophagia (), also known as geophagy (), is the intentional practice of consuming earth or soil-like substances such as clay, chalk, or termite mounds. It is a behavioural adaptation that occurs in many non-human animals and has been documented i ...

, the deliberate ingestion of soil, commonly in location of clay licks. Feral birds also come to bird feeders. Yellow-chevroned parakeets also consume arboreal

termite Termites are a group of detritivore, detritophagous Eusociality, eusocial cockroaches which consume a variety of Detritus, decaying plant material, generally in the form of wood, Plant litter, leaf litter, and Humus, soil humus. They are dist ...

nests, which are made of a mixture of clay and organic matter, as well as termite feces and saliva that acts as glue for the nest. The termite nests appear to provide more physiological benefits than ordinary ground soil, including macronutrients like

potassium Potassium is a chemical element; it has Symbol (chemistry), symbol K (from Neo-Latin ) and atomic number19. It is a silvery white metal that is soft enough to easily cut with a knife. Potassium metal reacts rapidly with atmospheric oxygen to ...

magnesium Magnesium is a chemical element; it has Symbol (chemistry), symbol Mg and atomic number 12. It is a shiny gray metal having a low density, low melting point and high chemical reactivity. Like the other alkaline earth metals (group 2 ...

, and

aluminum Aluminium (or aluminum in North American English) is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol, symbol Al and atomic number 13. It has a density lower than that of other common metals, about one-third that of steel. Aluminium has ...

, which may help with egg formation during the breeding season.Costa-Pereira, R., Severo-Neto, F., Inforzato, I., Laps, R. R., & Pizo, M. A. (2015). Nutrients drive termite nest geophagy in yellow-chevroned parakeets (brotogeris chiriri). The Wilson Journal of Ornithology, 127(3), 506–510. https://doi.org/10.1676/14-142.1

Breeding

Yellow-chevroned parakeets usually find holes in trees for nesting. They also form nesting tunnels in dead palm fronds. The female lays four to five eggs. After raising their young, all birds form rather large communal roosts until the next breeding season.

Gallery

File:Periquito-rico (Brotogeris tirica).jpg File:Brotogeris chiriri -3-2cp.jpg File:Brotogeris chiriri on Erythrina velutina (9606886301).jpg File:Flickr - Dario Sanches - PERIQUITO-DE-ENCONTRO-AMARELO (Brotogeris chiriri ).jpg File:Yellow Chevroned Parakeet (43647467525).jpg File:Brotogeris chiriri on Erythrina velutina (9610118954).jpg

References

External links

Yellow-chevroned Parakeet videos
on the Internet Bird Collection

VIREO ttp://vireo.acnatsci.org/species_image.php?species=Brotogeris+chiriri Photo-High Res--(Close-up)* ttps://web.archive.org/web/20070612190142/http://chandra.as.utexas.edu/~kormendy/brazilss/YellowChevronParakeet1387ss.jpg Photo-High Resbr>Article
chandra.as.utexas.edu {{Taxonbar, from=Q1071745

yellow-chevroned parakeet The yellow-chevroned parakeet (''Brotogeris chiriri'') 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, ...