All species › Parrots › Parrots › Hispaniolan Parakeet
Hispaniolan Parakeet | Psittacara chloropterus
Hispaniolaparkiet | Perico de La Española
The Hispaniolan Parakeet is the only native parakeet of Hispaniola. In the Dominican Republic it still occurs in the mountains and in cities such as Santo Domingo, but in Haiti it has become rare. The extinct parakeet of Puerto Rico and Mona is sometimes included in this species as a subspecies.
Voice
A repeated, grating kree-kree, both in flight and when perched; flocks keep up a loud, rasping chatter.
Recording: Johan Chaves — CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 · converted to mono · xeno-canto
Identification
30–33 cm, with a long pointed tail. Green, yellower below. Some adults have a few red feathers on the head. The bend and leading edge of the wing are red, as are the outer underwing coverts, which gives a red patch under the wing in flight; flight feathers and tail are dull yellowish below. Bare white skin surrounds the eye and the bill is horn-coloured. The sexes are alike. Juveniles lack the red in the wing.
Confusion species
Hispaniolan Amazon Amazona ventralis is stockier, with a short square tail, a white forehead and a maroon belly patch. Olive-throated Parakeet Eupsittula nana, introduced in the south-west of the Dominican Republic, is smaller, with an olive-brown throat and breast and no red in the wing.
Habitat
Humid montane forest, pine forest, dry and semi-evergreen broadleaf forest, secondary forest and savanna, and also farmland, plantations and city parks, from sea level to about 3000 m; most numerous in humid montane forest. It eats seeds, fruit and flowers and is persecuted as a pest in maize and other crops. It nests in tree holes, termite nests and cavities in rocks or buildings.
Where the bird is most at home, classified by the vegetation types of the Caribbean.
Range and movements
Hispaniola. In the Dominican Republic mainly in the Cordillera Central and the Sierra de Bahoruco and in cities, especially Santo Domingo. In Haiti very rare, with records from the Massif de la Selle (including Parc national La Visite), the Massif de la Hotte and around Port-au-Prince. Introduced to Puerto Rico, where there are no recent records, and to Guadeloupe, with a few records at the Jardin Botanique de Basse-Terre. The species does not occur outside the region.
- Resident
- dark = core range, pale = thinly spread
How and when to look
In Santo Domingo flocks fly noisily over city parks and the botanical garden early in the morning and late in the afternoon. In the mountains the species can be found in the Cordillera Central and the Sierra de Bahoruco. A bird flying overhead is identified by its long tail and the red patch under the wing.
Conservation status
Considered Vulnerable by the IUCN; the population is declining. The threats are forest loss, persecution as a crop pest and trapping for the cage-bird trade. It has declined steeply in Haiti in particular, whereas it has settled in Dominican cities.
Scientific name
Psittacara chloropterus | de Souancé, 1856 (GBIF: Aratinga chloroptera)
De Souancé described the species in 1856 and placed it straight away in the genus where it still stands. The genus Psittacara was introduced in 1825 by Vigors. Psittacara joins Greek psittakos 'parrot', Latin psittacus, with the genus name Ara, the macaws. chloropterus is Greek for 'green-winged', from khlōros 'green' and pteron 'wing'. The specimen the first description was based on came from Santo Domingo (Hispaniola).