Parrots | Psittaciformes

Papegaaiachtigen | Loros y cotorras

The bill is short, deep and strongly hooked, and the upper mandible is joined to the skull by a hinge so that it can move on its own; at its base lies a patch of waxy skin with the nostrils. The foot has two toes forward and two back and is used like a hand: food is picked up and carried to the bill, and husked and cracked there rather than swallowed whole. The red and yellow in the plumage come from pigments found only in this group; together with the blue reflection of the feather structure they produce the green. They are cavity nesters with white eggs and naked, helpless young; they are long-lived, live in groups and have loud calls. In the region the native species are all New World parrots, with endemic amazons and parakeets in the Greater and Lesser Antilles and South American species on Trinidad. In addition, escaped cage birds, including species from Africa, Asia and Australia, have become established on several islands.

Families in this order

Cockatoos | Cacatuidae2 speciesCockatoos are a family of parrots from Australia, New Guinea, Indonesia and the Philippines and are not native to the Caribbean. Records in the region concern escaped or released cage birds, with the White Cockatoo and the Cockatiel as examples. Characteristic of the family is a mobile crest that is raised when the bird is excited. Unlike the other parrots, cockatoos lack the feather structure that produces blue and green, so the plumage is mainly white, grey, black, pink or yellow. The bill is powerful and curved, the foot zygodactyl. The White Cockatoo is large and entirely white with a broad white crest and a black bill. The Cockatiel is much smaller and slender, grey with a yellow head, an orange cheek patch, a pointed crest and a long tail. Both give loud, shrill or grating calls, which are often the first sign of an escaped bird.
Parrots | Psittacidae33 speciesThis family comprises the parrots of the Americas and Africa; all the region's native parrots belong to it. The main group is the amazons, stocky and largely green, with a short square-cut tail. Nine endemic species live in the Greater and Lesser Antilles: one on Cuba, the Bahamas and the Cayman Islands, one on Hispaniola, one on Puerto Rico, two on Jamaica and two on Dominica, and one each on Saint Lucia and Saint Vincent; these island species often have small populations. There are also slender parakeets with a long pointed tail, such as Cuban and Hispaniolan Parakeets. Trinidad has South American species, including macaws and parrotlets. Escaped species, such as Monk Parakeet, have also become established on Puerto Rico and other islands. Most breed in tree cavities; on Abaco Cuban Amazon nests in holes in limestone, and Monk Parakeet builds a communal stick nest.
Old World parakeets | Psittaculidae2 speciesThis family gathers a large part of the parrots of Africa, Asia and Australasia and rests mainly on molecular data. No species occurs naturally in the region. Two species have escaped from captivity or been released and have become established on a number of islands. Rose-ringed Parakeet, native to Africa and South Asia, is slender and green with a long graduated tail and a red bill; the male has a narrow black and pink collar. It occurs on Puerto Rico, Cuba, Jamaica, Barbados, Guadeloupe, Martinique and Curaçao, among others. Rosy-faced Lovebird, native to south-western Africa, is small and stocky, green with a pink face and a blue rump; populations exist on Puerto Rico and Curaçao, among others. Both species feed on fruit, buds, blossom and seed. They breed in cavities, and outside the breeding season Rose-ringed Parakeets roost in numbers in the same trees, calling loudly as they arrive and leave.