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Grey-cheeked Parakeet | Brotogeris pyrrhoptera
Grijswangparkiet | Perico cachetigrís | Periquito-de-bochecha-cinza
The Grey-cheeked Parakeet is a green parakeet of the dry and semi-humid forest of south-western Ecuador and north-western Peru. Grey cheeks and throat and orange underwings separate it from the other parakeets of that region. The cage-bird trade and forest loss have greatly reduced its numbers.
Voice
A shrill, rapidly repeated chree and loud chattering, mainly from flocks in flight.
Recording: Peter de Rouw — CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 · xeno-canto
Identification
20 cm, with a fairly short, pointed tail and a pale, horn-coloured bill. The plumage is green. The cheeks, chin and throat are pale grey, the crown bluish grey. The underwing coverts are bright orange and clearly visible in flight; the flight feathers are bluish green above. The sexes are alike. Juveniles have a greener crown and less grey on the cheeks.
Confusion species
Red-masked Parakeet Psittacara erythrogenys is much larger, with a long tail and red on the head and bend of the wing. Pacific Parrotlet Forpus coelestis is much smaller, with a short, wedge-shaped tail and no orange in the wing. Bronze-winged Parrot Pionus chalcopterus is larger and dark, with a short, square tail.
Habitat
Dry forest and semi-humid deciduous forest, forest edges, open woodland with large trees, and plantations and fields with scattered trees, from the lowlands to roughly 1500 m. It eats fruit, seeds, flowers and nectar, including those of Ceiba and Erythrina. It nests in a tree cavity or in 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 Ecuador in the west, mainly from Guayas south through El Oro and Loja, with scattered records farther north. In Peru in the north-west, in Tumbes, Piura and locally Lambayeque. Absent from Colombia, Bolivia and the Galápagos. Does not occur outside the guide area.
- Resident
- dark = core range, pale = thinly spread
How and when to look
At Jorupe reserve near Macará in Loja, in the dry forest of Cerro Blanco near Guayaquil and in the forests of Tumbes. Flocks fly with loud chattering between flowering trees; in flight look for the orange under the wing.
Conservation status
Vulnerable. The range is small, and the dry forest has largely disappeared or been fragmented. The species was trapped on a large scale for the cage-bird trade for a long time.
Scientific name
Brotogeris pyrrhoptera | (Latham, 1801)
Latham described the species in 1801 as Psittacus pyrrhopterus; because it was later moved to another genus, the author and year stand in brackets. The genus Brotogeris was introduced in 1825 by Vigors. The genus name comes from Greek brotos, 'man, mortal', and gērus, 'voice, speech', for the ability to mimic human speech. The species name comes from Greek purrhos, 'flame-coloured', and pteron, 'wing', for the orange underwing coverts. The specimen the first description was based on came from Guayaquil, Ecuador.