The Papuan King Parrot, also known as the Green-winged King Parrot, is a species of parrot in the Psittacidae family. It is found in West Papua and Papua New Guinea. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests and subtropical or tropical moist montane forests

Description

The Papuan King Parrot is 36 cm (14 in) long including a long broad tail. It has dark grey legs and orange irises. The three subspecies of the Papuan King Parrot all show sexual dimorphism and in all three subspecies the male can be identified by a prominent broad pale-green band on each wing (resembling a shoulder stripe). The differences in the females between subspecies are more marked than the differences in the males.

The male has a red head and neck, red lower parts, blue back and rump, green wings each with a broad band of pale-green. In the male of A. c. chloropterus the blue extents upwards from the back to the hind neck. In the female the of A. c. chloropterus and A. c. calloterus the abdomen is red, the green over the head and neck is continuous with green of the back and wings, and the chest has vague transverse green and red striations. The female of subspecies A. c. moszkowskii has a red head, neck, chest, and lower abdomen resembling the male, and differs from the male with its much smaller pale-green wing band.

Distribution and habitat

Found on in central and eastern New Guinea east of the Weyland Mountains, it lives in forests up to an altitude of 2600 metres.

Behaviour

Birds are encountered in ones or twos, or in small flocks up to ten birds. It feeds quietly in dense forest generally in small trees or low branches of large trees, and are often unnoticed.They eat berries, fruit, seeds and possibly some insects.

The Moluccan King Parrot, Alisterus amboinensis, is a parrot that is endemic to Peleng Island, Maluku and West Papua in Indonesia. It is sometimes referred to as the Ambon King Parrot or Amboina King Parrot, but this is potentially misleading, as it is found on numerous other islands than Ambon. The male and female are similar in appearance, with a predominantly red head and underparts, green wings (blue in one subspecies), and blue back and tail. Six subspecies are recognised, but only a few of these are regular in aviculture. In the wild, it inhabits rainforests and feeds on fruits, berries, seeds and buds.

Description

An adult Moluccan King Parrot measures 35–40 cm (14 in) in length and has a red head and chest, outer wings dull green (except in subspecies hypophonius, where blue), mantle, lesser wing coverts and tail-coverts dark purple-blue. Tail darker blackish blue, irises orange, and the legs are dark grey. The lower mandible is blackish, and the upper mandible is orange-red with a blackish tip, except in the subspecies buruensis, where the entire bill is blackish. Unlike the other species of king parrots, the Moluccan King Parrot does not display sexual dimorphism; that is, the sexes have similar plumage. Juvenile birds have a dark-brown bill tipped paler, greenish mantle, dark brown irises and red-tips to lateral tail feathers. Birds reach maturity in one year.

Behavior

Encountered alone or in pairs, occasionally in small groups, it mainly frequents dense cover in the lower and mid-levels of forests. It is inconspicuous and rather quiet, except in flight. It consumes fruit, berries, seeds and buds. Nesting takes place in a tree-hollow. The breeding season begins in February and March, although breeding has not been observed in the wild, in captivity the clutch consists of two eggs which are incubated for 19 days. After hatching the chicks are ready to fledge at nine weeks old.

Habitat and status

The Moluccan King Parrot inhabits rainforests, but sometimes enters nearby plantations and gardens. Exceptionally, it occurs at altitude up to 2100 m, but more commonly below 1200 m (New Guinea) or 1600 m (Maluku).

The Moluccan King Parrot is generally uncommon due to habitat loss and capture for the parrot trade, but remains locally common at least on the Sula Islands, Halmahera and Buru. Overall the species is not believed to be in immediate danger, and consequently is listed as Least Concern by BirdLife International and IUCN. As most parrots, the Moluccan King Parrot is listed in Appendix II of CITES.

Aviculture

Until recently only the subspecies amboinensis and hypophonius were seen regularly seen in aviculture, but buruensis and dorsalis are now also present, at least in zoos. It has regularly been bred in captivity for example in Denmark.

The Australian King Parrot (Alisterus scapularis) is endemic to eastern Australia. It is found in humid and heavily forested upland regions of the eastern portion of the continent, including eucalyptus wooded areas in and directly adjacent to subtropical and temperate rainforest. They feed on fruits, seeds or small insects.

Description

Adults of both sexes are about 43 cm (17 in) in length, including the long broad tail. The adult male has a red head, breast, and lower undersides, with a blue band on the back of the neck between the red above and green on the back, the wings are green and each has a pale green shoulder band, the tail is green, and the rump is blue. The male has a reddish-orange upper mandible with a black tip, a black lower mandible with an orange base, and yellow irises. The plumage of the female is much different to the male having a green head and breast, an grey beak, and the pale shoulder band is small or absent. Juveniles of both sexes have brown irises and a yellowish beak, and otherwise resemble the female.

There are two subspecies; A. s. minor is found at the northern limit of the species range and is similar in appearance to the nominate subspecies but smaller, typically about 5 cm (2 in) smaller in length.

Distribution and habitat

Australian King Parrots range from North and Central Queensland to Southern Victoria. They are frequently seen in small groups with various species of rosella. Further from their normal eastern upland habitat, they are also found in Canberra during winter, the outer western suburbs and north shore of Sydney, and the Carnarvon Gorge in Central Queensland.

Aviculture

In their native Australia, King Parrots are occasionally bred in aviaries and kept as calm and relatively quiet household pets if hand-raised. They are relatively unknown outside Australia. As pets, they have limited "talking" ability and normally prefer not to be handled, but they do bond readily to people and can be very devoted. Life expectancy in the wild is unknown, but some pets have been known to live for up to 25 years.