Parrot Facts: Habits, Habitat & Species

 Parrot Facts: Habits, Habitat & Species

Parrots are members of the order Psittaciformes, which includes more than 350 bird species, including parakeets, macaws, cockatiels and cockatoos, according to the Integrated Taxonomic Information System (ITIS). Though there are many types of parrots, all parrot species have a few traits in common. For example, to be classified as a parrot, the bird must have a curved beak, and its feet must be zygodactyl, which means there are four toes on each foot with two toes that point forward and two that point backward. 

Size

Because the parrot order includes so many different species, parrot sizes vary widely. Parrots can range in size from about 3.5 to 40 inches (8.7 to 100 centimeters) and weigh 2.25 to 56 ounces (64 g to 1.6 kg), on average. The world's heaviest type of parrot is the kakapo, which can weigh up to 9 lbs. (4 kg). The smallest parrot is the buff-faced pygmy parrot, which is only about 3 inches (8 cm) tall and weighs just 0.4 ounces (10 g).

Habitat 

Most wild parrots live in the warm areas of the Southern Hemisphere, though they can be found in many other regions of the world, such as northern Mexico. Australia, South America and Central America have the greatest diversity of parrot species. 

With their colorful plumage and ability to mimic human speech, parrots are very popular pets. Some parrot pets have escaped their owners and bred in unusual areas. For example, a popular bird in the pet trade, the monk parakeet, a native of subtropical South America, now resides in the United States after some of them escaped and reproduced in the wild.

Habits 

Most parrots are social birds that live in groups called flocks. African grey parrots live in flocks with as many as 20 to 30 birds.

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Many species are monogamous and spend their lives with only one mate. The mates work together to raise their young. Parrots throughout the flock communicate with one another by squawking and moving their tail feathers. 

Some parrots, like the kakapo, are nocturnal. They sleep during the day and search for food at night.

Diet

Parrots are omnivores, which means that they can eat both meat and vegetation. Most parrots eat a diet that contains nuts, flowers, fruit, buds, seeds and insects. Seeds are their favorite food. They have strong jaws that allow them to snap open nutshells to get to the seed that's inside. 

Keas use their longer beaks to dig insects out of the ground for a meal, and kakapos chew on vegetation and drink the juices.

Offspring

Parrots are like most other birds and lay eggs in a nest. Some species, though, lay their eggs in tree holes,ground tunnels, rock cavities and termite mounds. Parrots typically lay two to eight eggs at one time. A parrot's egg needs 18 to 30 days of incubation before it can hatch, so the parents take turns sitting on the eggs.

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