The white-breasted parakeet (''Pyrrhura albipectus'') or white-necked parakeet, is a

Vulnerable species A vulnerable species is a species which has been Conservation status, categorized by the International Union for Conservation of Nature as being threatened species, threatened with extinction unless the circumstances that are threatened species, ...

of bird in subfamily

Arinae The neotropical parrots or New World parrots comprise about 150 species in 32 genera found throughout South America, South and Central America, Mexico, the Caribbean islands and the southern United States. Among them are some of the most familia ...

of the family

Psittacidae The Family (biology), family Psittacidae or holotropical parrots is one of three families of true parrots. It comprises the 12 species of subfamily Psittacinae (the Afrotropics, Afrotropical parrots) and 167 of subfamily Arinae (the New World or ...

, the African and New World parrots. It is found in southern

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 possibly in adjacent northern

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 ...

.Remsen, J. V., Jr., J. I. Areta, E. Bonaccorso, S. Claramunt, A. Jaramillo, D. F. Lane, J. F. Pacheco, M. B. Robbins, F. G. Stiles, and K. J. Zimmer. 30 January 2023. Species Lists of Birds for South American Countries and Territories. https://www.museum.lsu.edu/~Remsen/SACCCountryLists.htm retrieved January 30, 2023

Taxonomy and systematics

The white-breasted parakeet is

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 ...

Description

The white-breasted parakeet is long and weighs . The sexes are the same. Adults have a thin reddish brown band just above the bill and are brownish from forehead to hindcrown; the crown feathers have gray edges. Their cheeks are green with yellow giving a scaly appearance and their ear coverts are orange. A wide white collar surrounds their neck and the rest of their upperparts are green. Their breast is yellow and the rest of their underparts are green with a rusty tone on the belly. Their wing is mostly green with red

primary Primary or primaries may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Music Groups and labels * Primary (band), from Australia * Primary (musician), hip hop musician and record producer from South Korea * Primary Music, Israeli record label Work ...

coverts A covert feather or tectrix on a bird is one of a set of feathers, called coverts (or ''tectrices''), which cover other feathers. The coverts help to smooth airflow over the wings and tail. Ear coverts The ear coverts are small feathers behind t ...

and dark bluish

primaries Primary elections or primaries are elections held to determine which candidates will run in an upcoming general election. In a partisan primary, a political party selects a candidate. Depending on the state and/or party, there may be an "open pri ...

. The upper side of their tail is dull reddish with a green base and the underside dusky with reddish tips to the feathers. Their bill is blackish and their iris is dark with bare white or whitish skin surrounding it. Immature birds are similar to adults but without the reddish frontal band; they also have paler ear coverts and a white breast.Collar, N. and P. F. D. Boesman (2020). White-necked Parakeet (''Pyrrhura albipectus''), version 1.0. In Birds of the World (J. del Hoyo, A. Elliott, J. Sargatal, D. A. Christie, and E. de Juana, Editors). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, USA. https://doi.org/10.2173/bow.whnpar1.01 retrieved March 13, 2023

Distribution and habitat

The white-breasted parakeet is found on the eastern slope of the Andes in the southeastern Ecuadoran provinces of

Morona-Santiago Morona Santiago () is a province in Ecuador. The province was established on February 24, 1954. The capital is Macas. Economy The provincial economy is industrially unexploited to its potential due to poor means of transportation. Its economy ...

and

Zamora-Chinchipe Zamora Chinchipe (), Province of Zamora Chinchipe is a province of the Republic of Ecuador, located at the southeastern end of the Amazon Basin, which shares borders with the Ecuadorian provinces of Azuay and Morona Santiago to the north, Loja ...

, and possibly in northernmost

Cajamarca Cajamarca (), also known by the Quechua name, ''Kashamarka'', is the capital and largest city of the Cajamarca Region as well as an important cultural and commercial center in the northern Andes. It is located in the northern highlands of Per ...

in Peru. The South American Classification Committee of the

American Ornithological Society The American Ornithological Society (AOS) is an ornithological organization based in the United States. The society was formed in October 2016 by the merger of the American Ornithologists' Union (AOU) and the Cooper Ornithological Society. Its ...

considers it to be

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 Ecuador; undocumented sight records in Peru lead the committee to treat it as hypothetical in that country. It inhabits the canopy, clearings, and edges of

subtropical and tropical forest at elevations between though it usually is found below .

Behavior

Movement

The white-breasted parakeet is not known to have any pattern of movements.

Feeding

The white-breasted parakeet feeds on fruit, seeds, and flowers of a variety of plants and trees.

Breeding

The white-breasted parakeet nests between May and July, but nothing else is known about its breeding biology.

Vocalization

The white-breasted parakeet's most common call is "a series of harsh notes, e.g. "krree krree krree" " that is given both from a perch and in flight. Perched birds also call with single "kurree" or "rrah" notes, though perched birds are often silent. Flocks in flight "call frequently and simultaneously, producing a noisy, harsh chattering."

Status

The

IUCN The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natural resources. Founded in 1948, IUCN has become the global authority on the status ...

originally assessed the white-breasted parakeet as Threatened but since 1994 has treated it as Vulnerable. It has a small range and its estimated population of under 10,000 mature individuals is believed to be decreasing. "Habitat destruction is the principal concern, as upper tropical zone forests east of the Andes are being cleared at an alarming rate." It occurs in

Podocarpus National Park Podocarpus National Park () is a national park located in the provinces of Zamora Chinchipe and Loja, in the south-east of Ecuador. It was created in 1982. It covers , from two spurs of the eastern range of the Andes to the basins of the Na ...

and the Tapichalaca Reserve, though the former has lost some habitat due to illegal encroachment. In Tapichalaca Reserve the Fundación Jocotoco has erected nest boxes for the parakeet.Waugh, D. (2009). A tiriba-do-pescoço-branco (''Pyrrhura albipectus'') no Equador meridional: notícias sobre a sua conservação. he White-necked Parakeet (''Pyrrhura albipectus'') in southern Ecuador: news on its conservationAtualidades Ornitológicas. 147: 50–51. In Portuguese.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q254919 white-breasted parakeet Birds of the Ecuadorian Andes Birds of the Peruvian Andes white-breasted parakeet Parakeets Taxonomy articles created by Polbot