AUSTRALIAN SPECIALISTS!

Golden-Shouldered Parrot (Psephotus chrysopterygius)

Hooded Parrot Pair

    Many of you may not have heard of the golden-shouldered parrot, but perhaps you’ve heard of the hooded parrot.  The hooded parrot is simply a subspecies of the golden-shouldered parrot.  The two races are nearly identical (the black comes on the male comes below the eye on the hooded parrot but remains above the eye on the nominate subspecies) but they have disjunct geographic distributions.  The hooded parrot (P. c. dissimilis) occupies the very northeastern region of the Northern Territory while the golden-shouldered parrot (P. c. chrysoptergius) is confined to the Cape York Peninsula.  These birds are about as long as the mulga and bluebonnet, but they have a slimmer build.

Golden-shouldered in flight                                Golden-shouldered nest in termite mound

     Hooded and golden-shouldered parrots are found in open forests that are in close proximity to open flats dominated by terrestrial termite colonies.  The forests in these areas are primarily made up of Eucalyptus and Melaleuca with shrubs of Heterpogon and Andropogon.  Of course grass is an important element (Themeda grasses) that generates seeds for these parrots to feed on.  This species is one of the most interesting parrots since it has evolved a nesting behavior that utilizes living termite colonies as a nesting site.  The birds seem to shun the magnetic termite colonies for the conical mounds, probably because the blade shaped magnetic mounds are too thin to burrow into.  We were fortunate enough to view these birds in the wild and have provided some photos (above and below) that show the different types of termite mounds and a golden-shouldered nest burrow.  As an aside, the magnetic termites are named such because they always build their colony so that it is oriented north to south.  This is means of controlling the amount of solar heating the colony is exposed to.  Termite colonies also generate heat from decomposing organic material (like a compost pile) and this internal heat may allow the female to quit brooding sooner than would normally expected.

Magnetic Termite Mound

     On the Cape York Peninsula we observed golden-shouldered parrots pairs or small family groups that consist of an adult pair and their offspring.  We spotted them feeding on grasses from the ground as well as perched in Melaleuca to preen.  Both subspecies are increasingly rare in Australia due to loss of habitat and harvesting for the cage bird trade.  This species has full protected status in Australia and whether or not populations can recover is in question.

     Although golden-shouldered parrots are readily available in Europe, I’ve never seen a pair here in the US.  Fortunately the hooded parrot is reasonably well established in US aviculture and available to those who know where to look.  It is believed that all of the US stock of hooded parrots came from a very few birds imported to the US.  The hooded parrot was one of the first species we acquired and remains one of our favorites.  The males are stunning, showing off an iridescent turquoise-blue; a very rare color in nature.  The hens are a simple green as are the juveniles.  Males begin to color after their first year and are ready to breed by their second year.  These birds can be very picky when selecting a mate so sometimes it takes some time to put together a reliable breeding pair.  I have also found that leaving them together for enough years usually results in successful breeding…but that requires the kind of patience most aviculturists don’t have!  Hens normally lay 4 eggs but sometimes as many as 6.  Like the northern rosella, these birds choose to breed during the Austral summer which happens to be our winter.  This can cause problems since hens are prone to quit brooding the chicks at night when they are still quite young (presumably they are still programmed to take advantage of the internal heat of the termite mound).  This can result in the total loss of a clutch.  It has happened to me several times and happened to everyone I know that keeps these birds.  If it’s particularly cold I will pull the chicks and hand-feed if I want to be assured a successful clutch (despite how much I dislike hand-feeding).  Fortunately I’ve not seen an adverse effect from hand-feeding on future breeding potential in hooded parrots.  In fact I’ve found them to make very good pets.  This species can be kept in a mixed aviary.

Pricing

$700 per pair, $350 for singles.

Copyright © 2008 Outbackbirds