Parrots have been popular as pets since the days of the ancient Greeks and Rornans. Old prints show Christopher Columbus presenting a parrot at the court of Ferdinand and Isabella. Robinson Crusoe had a parrot on his desert island, which he brought back with him to England. There are always parrots in pirate and sailing stories. Much of their popularity is due to the ability of these birds to imitate human speech as well as other sounds when in captivity.
Parrots are found in tropical regions around the world. There are over three hundred species that range in size from about four inches to about forty inches. The smallest are the pygmy parrots of New Guinea. The largest are the macaws of Central and South America, and their total length includes their very long tails. Macaws are often seen in zoos. They have raucous cries and are seldom still during the day. Their beaks are so strong they can crack Brazil nuts with them. They do not talk as well as some of the other parrots, but they are very colourful with their green, red, yellow and blue feathers. In their native homes they are said to travel in pairs rather than in flocks, as do so many other members of the parrot family.
The best talker is supposed to be the African grey parrot. It is a handsome bird with grey feathers on its body and deep red feathers on its rather short tail. It has pale grey eyes. This is probably the bird that was a favourite with the Romans. The best talkers of the New World parrots are the amazons from Central and South America. They are usually green with touches of red or yellow somewhere on their bodies. They have short tails and sturdy bodies. If they are trained when they are still young they can often acquire a good vocabulary of words and even whole phrases. Of course, they do not understand what they say, but merely imitate the sounds of the human who teaches them.
Many families have a small parakeet, the budgerigar, as a pet. These little birds originally come from Australia where they are often found in flocks like sparrows. They eat seeds. They do well in captivity and an occasional budgie may even learn a few words. Originally they were green birds with some yellow and blue feathers, but in captivity selective breeding has produced blue, white, and even mauve birds. In England there are special budgerigar shows each year with prizes given for colour and form.
Other parro ‘s from Australia include the handsome cockatoos. They are big birds and have crests on their heads. Like the macaws they are not especially good talkers but are kept in zoos because of their beauty. In their homeland they travel in noisy flocks.The rainbow lorikeets, found in Australia and the East Indies, have tongues that are especially adapted for getting nectar from flowers. These birds first crush the flowers and then lap up the nectar. They travel in large flocks.
One of the most unusual parrots is the owl parrot of New Zealand. It has lost the power of flight and is now rare because so many have been killed by predatory animals brought into New Zealand by settlers. This parrot is about twenty inches long and is yellow, green, black and brown. The owl parrot is mainly active at night in the beech forests where it lives. During the day it sleeps under the roots of frees or in cracks in rocks. It climbs trees to find its food—fruits and leaves—and when it has finished eating it spreads its wings and glides down.
These birds also nest under tree roots or among rocks. The two or three white eggs are incubated by both parents for about three weeks. Another unusual parrot of New Zealand is the kea. These brownish-green birds live above the timberline in the mountains during the summer and nest among the rocks. However with the coming of winter the keas move down to warmer areas. After extensive sheep ranching was begun by settlers in New Zealand, the keas discovered a new source of food in winter—the discarded remains of slaughtered sheep. They acquired such a taste for sheep fat that eventually the birds began killing live sheep. New Zealanders put a bounty on keas for some time, but finally found that the way to keep the birds from killing sheep was simply to bury remains of slaughtered sheep so the keas could not learn to eat meat. New Guinea and nearby islands are the home of the tiny pigmy parrots. They have tails similar to those of woodpeckers and use them in much the same way.
Some species of pigmy parrots build their nest in the nests of termites; others nest in holes in trees. For some unknown reason it is impossible to keep pigmy parrots alive in captivity. At one time there were parrots in the United States. They were called Carolina parakeets. Great flocks of them lived in the country east of the Rockies. Unfortunately when the country was being settled, and before the days of conservation, farmers killed large numbers of these birds because they ate the fruit on the farmers’ trees. When a few birds were shot, the flock would return to see what had happened to them. It was then easy for the farmer to kill the rest of the flock. None have been seen since 1920.
Most parrots nest in holes and lay white eggs. They have strong beaks and thick tongues. They eat nuts, seeds and fruits. Some of them use their claws to hold and to bring food to their mouths, almost as if their claws were hands. Many kinds of parrots are thought to mate for life.
The little love birds, small parrots found in Asia and Africa, make perhaps the most obviously devoted mates in the bird world. When caged, they show each other constant attention and if one dies the other is said to pine away unless another mate is provided for it.
Parrots Pictures
