The Ouvea parakeet (''Eunymphicus uvaeensis'') or Uvea parakeet, is a species of

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 ...

in the genus '' Eunymphicus'', in the family

Psittaculidae Psittaculidae is a family of parrots, commonly known as Old World parrots, though this term is a misnomer, as not all its members occur in the Old World and Psittacinae also occurs in the Old World. It consists of six subfamilies: Psittricha ...

. It is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found only in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also foun ...

to the island of

Uvea The uvea (; derived from meaning "grape"), also called the uveal layer, uveal coat, uveal tract, vascular tunic or vascular layer, is the pigmented middle layer of the three concentric layers that make up an eye, precisely between the inne ...

in the

Loyalty Islands Loyalty Islands Province (, ) is one of the three top-level administrative subdivisions of New Caledonia. It encompasses the Loyalty Islands () archipelago in the Pacific Ocean, located northeast of the New Caledonian mainland of Grande Terre. ...

New Caledonia New Caledonia ( ; ) is a group of islands in the southwest Pacific Ocean, southwest of Vanuatu and east of Australia. Located from Metropolitan France, it forms a Overseas France#Sui generis collectivity, ''sui generis'' collectivity of t ...

. The species was once 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 horned parakeet of Grande Terre, but they have now been split into two species.

Description

The Ouvea parakeet is a medium-sized parakeet with mostly green

plumage Plumage () is a layer of feathers that covers a bird and the pattern, colour, and arrangement of those feathers. The pattern and colours of plumage differ between species and subspecies and may vary with age classes. Within species, there can b ...

and a prominent green crest. The crest is composed of six backward feathers that curl forwards. The underside of the bird tends to be yellower and there is bright blue on the wings and tail. The face is dark and the

beak The beak, bill, or rostrum is an external anatomical structure found mostly in birds, but also in turtles, non-avian dinosaurs and a few mammals. A beak is used for pecking, grasping, and holding (in probing for food, eating, manipulating and ...

is black, lacking the yellow on the face of the horned parakeet.

Diet

The species has a preference for natural forests and

laurel forest Laurel forest, also called laurisilva or laurissilva, is a type of subtropical forest found in areas with high humidity and relatively stable, mild temperatures. The forest is characterized by broadleaf tree species with evergreen, glossy and el ...

habitat while avoiding coconut plantations and coastal vegetation.Olivier Robinet, Vincent Bretagnolle and Mick Clout (2003) "Activity patterns, habitat use, foraging behaviour and food selection of the Ouvéa Parakeet (''Eunymphicus cornutus uvaeensis'')". ''

Emu The emu (; ''Dromaius novaehollandiae'') is a species of flightless bird endemism, endemic to Australia, where it is the Tallest extant birds, tallest native bird. It is the only extant taxon, extant member of the genus ''Dromaius'' and the ...

'' 103 (1): 71 - 80 They are active in the early morning and late afternoon, and avoid activity during the heat of the day. They feed on a variety of foods, with figs of the genus ''

Ficus ''Ficus'' ( or ) is a genus of about 850 species of woody trees, shrubs, vines, epiphytes and hemiepiphytes in the family (biology), family Moraceae. Collectively known as fig trees or figs, they are native throughout the tropics with a few spe ...

'' being particularly important.

Reproduction

The breeding season of the Uvea parakeet is from August to January. The nests are located in natural cavities in native trees, with '' Syzygium'' and '' Mimusops'' accounting for 90% of nesting trees. Three (occasionally two)

egg An egg is an organic vessel grown by an animal to carry a possibly fertilized egg cell (a zygote) and to incubate from it an embryo within the egg until the embryo has become an animal fetus that can survive on its own, at which point the ...

s are laid in these cavities and incubated for 21 days. The nestling period is around 43 days, with an average of around 1.5 chicks being

fledge Fledging is the stage in a flying animal's life between egg, hatching or birth and becoming capable of flight. This term is most frequently applied to birds, but is also used for bats. For altricial birds, those that spend more time in vulnera ...

d per nesting attempt. Fledging survival is lower, however, with around 0.75 chicks surviving a month after fledging. The main causes of chick mortality are starvation (most common in the smallest, weakest chick), brown goshawk predation and human collecting (for the pet trade).

Status

It once ranged across the other Loyalty Islands; attempts to reintroduce it to Lifou in 1925 and 1963 failed.BirdLife International (2008
Species factsheet: ''Eunymphicus uvaeensis''
Downloaded on 14 July 2008 One source reports that the reintroduced birds simply flew back to Uvea. Studies of potential nesting success on the two islands showed that future reintroductions to Lifou would fail unless the ship rat population is controlled. It is threatened by

habitat loss Habitat destruction (also termed habitat loss or habitat reduction) occurs when a natural habitat is no longer able to support its native species. The organisms once living there have either moved elsewhere, or are dead, leading to a decrease ...

and the pet trade. Around 30-50% of its habitat has been lost in the last thirty years. Collection for the pet trade not only reduces the number of birds but the collection method, which involves cutting trees open to get at the chicks, renders the nesting sites useless for future breeding attempts and lack of breeding cavities may be limiting the population. In the event that ship rats were to reach

it would be at greater risk of

extinction Extinction is the termination of an organism by the death of its Endling, last member. A taxon may become Functional extinction, functionally extinct before the death of its last member if it loses the capacity to Reproduction, reproduce and ...

. The parakeet is listed in Appendix I of CITES and the IUCN considers the conservation status as Vulnerable. This species is threatened because of low numbers, a limited home range and habitat loss. However, in recent years, community involvement in saving the species have contributed to significant gains in increasing the Ouvea parakeet population from an estimated 617 in 1993 to 2,090 in 2009.Barre N, Theuerkauf J, Verfaille L, Primot P, Saoumoe M. (2010). Exponential population increase in the endangered Ouvea Parakeet (''Eunymphicus uvaeensis'') after community-based protection from nest poaching. J. Ornitol. 151: 695-701.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q2362250 Eunymphicus Endemic birds of New Caledonia Birds described in 1882 Parakeets Taxonomy articles created by Polbot