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Golden-plumed Parakeet | Leptosittaca branickii
Goudpluimparkiet | Aratinga de pinceles | Periquito-de-penacho-dourado
The Golden-plumed Parakeet is a medium-sized, long-tailed parakeet of high montane forest in the Andes and the only member of the genus Leptosittaca. It is named after a narrow plume of elongated, golden-yellow feathers running from the lores back below the eye. Flocks move irregularly through the cloud forest and may stay in one place for weeks and then be absent for a long time.
Voice
High, shrill and harsh screeches, mostly in flight, such as a fast, repeated kree-kree; flocks in a tree keep up a constant chatter.
Recording: Iván Lau — CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 · xeno-canto
Identification
35 cm, with a long, pointed tail and a pale grey bill. The plumage is mainly green. A narrow line of golden-yellow feathers runs from the lores below the eye to the ear-coverts; the lores themselves are orange-yellow. The belly has a faint orange-yellow wash. The underside of the tail is rufous-brown. A bare, whitish ring surrounds the eye. The sexes are alike; juveniles have a shorter, less yellow plume.
Confusion species
Scarlet-fronted Parakeet Psittacara wagleri is larger and has a red forehead without a yellow plume. Yellow-eared Parrot Ognorhynchus icterotis is larger, with a heavy, dark bill and an entirely yellow forehead and cheeks. Maroon-tailed Parakeet Pyrrhura melanura is smaller, with a scaled breast and a maroon tail, and usually lives lower. Andean Parakeet Bolborhynchus orbygnesius is much smaller and short-tailed.
Habitat
Upper montane and cloud forest, its edges and semi-open country with forest patches, mostly between 2400 and 3400 m, locally down to about 1400 m. It feeds on fruit and seeds in the canopy, including those of Podocarpus, and also visits maize fields. It nests in cavities in dead trees.
Where the bird is most at home, classified by the vegetation units of the Andes and the west coast.
Range and movements
In Colombia locally in the Central Andes and in the south of the country. In Ecuador locally on both slopes, mainly in the south (Azuay, Loja, Zamora-Chinchipe). In Peru scattered and local along the eastern slope of the Andes, south to Junín and Cusco. Absent from Bolivia and the Galápagos. The entire range lies within the guide area.
- Resident
- dark = core range, pale = thinly spread
How and when to look
In southern Ecuador in the high forest around Cajanuma (Podocarpus) and Tapichalaca; in Colombia in the forest of the Central Andes, for example in Caldas and Risaralda. In the early morning, listen for flocks flying high over the forest.
Conservation status
Least Concern, but the species is local and generally scarce. Clearing of high montane forest reduces its habitat, and the flocks depend on scattered fruiting trees over a large area.
Scientific name
Leptosittaca branickii | Berlepsch & Sztolcman, 1894
Berlepsch & Sztolcman described the species in 1894 and placed it straight away in the genus where it still stands. He introduced the genus Leptosittaca in that same work. The genus name comes from Greek leptos, 'slender, fine', and sittakē, 'parrot'. The species name honours Count Władysław Michał Branicki (1848–1914), Polish ornithologist and co-founder (1887) of the Branicki Zoological Museum in Warsaw. The specimen the first description was based on came from Maraynioc, Junín, Peru.