Orange-chinned Parakeet

Overview

The orange-chinned parakeet, also known as the Tovi parakeet, is a species of small parrot in the family Psittacidae. It is native to the New World, found from southern Mexico through Central America into Colombia and Venezuela.

Identification

• 18 to 19 cm long with a weight of 53 to 65 g.
• Bright green head with a bluish wash on the crown, white eye ring, and a pale bill.
• Distinctive orange chin patch, though often difficult to see, and brown wing coverts appearing as 'shoulders' when perched.
• Common calls include a high-pitched 'klee', shrill 'chree' or bisyllabic 'chree-chree', and a fast chattering series 'cra-cra-cra-cra-cra'.

Habitat

Found from southwestern Oaxaca, Mexico, south along the Pacific side of Central America into western, central, and northern Colombia, and northwestern Venezuela. It inhabits semi-open to open landscapes such as deciduous woodland, secondary and gallery forest, plantations, and treed parts of towns, while shunning evergreen forest. It ranges in elevation from sea level to 1,400 m.

Diet

Forages on a wide variety of foods, primarily fruits and seeds, but also consumes flowers, herbs, nectar, insects, and algae. It often feeds alongside the larger orange-fronted parakeet and may damage cultivated fruit. Like many parrots, it also feeds on mineral-rich soil.

Did you know?

This species may exhibit communal nesting behaviour, with cases observed in large rotten snags. It is generally sedentary but may wander locally after the breeding season, as noted in El Salvador.