Parrots | Psittaciformes

Papegaaiachtigen | Loros y cotorras

The bill is short, deep and strongly hooked, and the upper mandible is hinged to the skull so that it can move on its own; at its base lies a waxy skin holding the nostrils. The foot has two toes forward and two back and is used like a hand: food is picked up and brought to the bill, where it is husked and cracked rather than swallowed whole. The red and yellow in the plumage come from pigments found only in this group; combined with the blue reflection of the feather structure they produce the familiar green. They are cavity nesters with white, almost round eggs and naked, helpless young; they live long, live in groups and have loud calls. In Mexico and Central America the order consists almost entirely of the New World parrots, from small parakeets to amazons and macaws. Most nest in tree holes, some parakeets in a hollowed-out arboreal termite nest and the Military Macaw partly in cliffs. Logging and trapping for the pet trade have greatly reduced many species. In addition, escaped cage birds from elsewhere turn up here and there.

Families in this order

African and New World parrots | Psittacidae38 speciesThe parrots of Africa and those of the New World together form this family; in Mexico and Central America it numbers 38 species in fourteen genera, from small parakeets (Brotogeris, Forpus) through the amazons (Amazona) to the large macaws (Ara), such as Scarlet Macaw and Great Green Macaw. The plumage is mainly green, with red, yellow, blue or white on the head, wing or tail; the sexes usually look much alike. In the pine forests of the mountains of northern Mexico live two parrots of the genus Rhynchopsitta that feed mainly on pine seeds. The strong, hooked bill cracks hard seeds and stones, often still unripe, and fruit, blossom and nectar are taken as well; the foot serves as a hand to hold food. The flight is fast and direct, with shallow beats, and comes with shrill, far-carrying calls that nearly always give the birds away before they can be seen. They live in pairs within flocks that move morning and evening between communal roosts and feeding trees, and nest in a tree hole, a few parakeets in a termite nest; usually the female alone incubates and is fed by the male. Several species are threatened by deforestation and capture for the cage-bird trade.