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Red-masked Parakeet | Psittacara erythrogenys
Guayaquilaratinga | Aratinga de Guayaquil
The Red-masked Parakeet is a green conure with a largely red head, native to the dry forests of south-western Ecuador and north-western Peru. Through the cage-bird trade feral populations have arisen in California, Florida and Spain, among other places. Puerto Rico holds a small population on its north coast.
Voice
A loud, harsh, two-syllabled kree-ek, especially in flight; flocks chatter noisily in treetops.
Recording: Leonardo Ordóñez-Delgado — CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 · converted to mono · xeno-canto
Identification
32–34 cm, about half of which is tail. Green, with a largely red head: forehead, crown, lores, cheeks and the area around the eye are red, while the nape stays green. The thighs, the leading edge of the wing and the lesser and median underwing coverts are also red; there are sometimes red spots on the neck. A ring of bare pale skin surrounds the eye and the bill is horn-coloured. The sexes are alike. Juveniles are entirely green until about four months old and acquire the red gradually.
Confusion species
Orange-fronted Parakeet Eupsittula canicularis is smaller, with an orange forehead, a blue crown and no red. White-winged Parakeet Brotogeris versicolurus is smaller, with a short tail and a yellow and white wing panel; Monk Parakeet Myiopsitta monachus has a grey face and breast. Young, still green birds resemble other all-green conures; the bare eye-ring and size help, and they usually fly with red-headed adults.
Habitat
On Puerto Rico urban areas with tall trees, such as the university campus in Río Piedras, and also limestone forest, estates and the edges of freshwater marshes along the north coast. It eats seeds, fruit and flowers. In its native range dry and semi-evergreen deciduous forest, scrub and semi-open farmland, mostly below 1500 m. It nests in tree holes and cavities in buildings.
Where the bird is most at home, classified by the vegetation types of the Caribbean.
Range and movements
Puerto Rico: established on the north coast, mainly in San Juan (Río Piedras) and between Manatí, Barceloneta and Arecibo, including Cambalache State Forest, Hacienda La Esperanza, Charca de Garrochales and Caño Tiburones. No populations known from other islands in the region. Native to south-western Ecuador and north-western Peru.
- Resident
- dark = core range, pale = thinly spread
How and when to look
In Río Piedras on and around the campus of the University of Puerto Rico, and along the north coast at Cambalache and Hacienda La Esperanza. The birds are usually heard first; in flight the red head shows at a distance in good light.
Conservation status
Considered Near Threatened globally, mainly because of trapping for the domestic trade in Ecuador and Peru. On Puerto Rico an alien; the size of the population and its effect on native species have not been studied.
Scientific name
Psittacara erythrogenys | Lesson, 1844 (GBIF: Aratinga erythrogenys)
Lesson described the species in 1844 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. erythrogenys is Greek, from eruthros 'red' and genus 'cheek', after the red mask. The specimen the first description was based on came from Guayaquil, Ecuador.