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Green-rumped Parrotlet | Forpus passerinus
Groene muspapegaai | Cotorrita culiverde | Tuim-santo
The Green-rumped Parrotlet is a small, bright green parrotlet of dry, open landscapes in northern South America. In the guide area it occurs only in northern Colombia. Pairs and small groups search for seeds in bushes, gardens and grassland with constant chattering.
Voice
A high, shrill chirping and chattering, especially from groups in flight.
Recording: JAYRSON ARAUJO DE OLIVEIRA — CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 · xeno-canto
Identification
12–13 cm, with a short, wedge-shaped tail and a pale bill. The plumage is bright green; the rump is a brighter emerald green. The male has blue wing coverts and secondaries and a blue underwing, but the rump stays green. The female lacks the blue and has a yellowish-green forehead. Young males already show some blue in the wing.
Confusion species
The male Spectacled Parrotlet Forpus conspicillatus has a blue ring around the eye and a blue rump; the female has a brighter green ring around the eye. It lives mainly in the inland valleys and the llanos. The male Cobalt-rumped Parrotlet Forpus xanthopterygius has a turquoise-blue rump. Orange-chinned Parakeet Brotogeris jugularis is larger, with a longer, pointed tail, an orange chin spot and brown shoulders.
Habitat
Dry scrub, open woodland, cactus scrub, forest edges, savanna, pasture, plantations, gardens and parks, mostly below 1000 m. It eats seeds of grasses and herbs, also fruit and flowers. It nests in a cavity in a tree, a post or a termite nest.
Where the bird is most at home, classified by the vegetation units of the Andes and the west coast.
Range and movements
In Colombia in the Caribbean lowlands of the north, mainly around Santa Marta and in La Guajira. Absent from Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia and the Galápagos. Outside the guide area in Venezuela, on Trinidad, in the Guianas and northern Brazil; introduced on Jamaica, Barbados and Curaçao.
- Resident
- dark = core range, pale = thinly spread
How and when to look
Search dry scrub, gardens and villages around Santa Marta and in La Guajira. Small groups reveal themselves by their shrill chattering and often feed low in bushes on seeds.
Conservation status
Least Concern. Common in a large range and adapted to open, human-made landscapes; locally trapped for the cage-bird trade.
Scientific name
Forpus passerinus | (Linnaeus, 1758)
Linnaeus described the species in 1758 as Psittacus passerinus; because it was later moved to another genus, the author and year stand in brackets. The genus Forpus was introduced in 1858 by Boie. The genus name, introduced by Boie in 1858, is probably arbitrary. It may come from Greek phoreō, 'to possess', and pous, 'foot', for the dexterous toes; according to Prestwich (1963) it is an anagram of Latin profus, 'spread out', for the short, wedge-shaped tail. The species name is Latin passerinus, 'sparrow-like', for the small size. The specimen the first description was based on came from Suriname.