African and New World parrots | Psittacidae

Papegaaien | Loros

Food is handled while perched: one foot holds a seed or fruit and carries it to the bill, the upper mandible pins it down, and the tongue turns it while the lower mandible files the husk away, so that a layer of shells and part-eaten fruit builds up under a favoured perch. Besides seeds and fruit they take flower buds, young leaves and the seeds inside still-closed cones. Almost all species breed in an existing hole in a tree, a cliff or a building, without nest material; one species instead builds a large stick nest with separate chambers for several pairs, occupied and enlarged for years on end. The white eggs are incubated chiefly by the female, and the naked chicks are raised for weeks on regurgitated food. The voice is a set of shrill, grating screeches, usually given in flight and by the whole flock at once; there is no song. Within it each bird has its own contact call, and many species take sounds from their surroundings into their repertoire.