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Blue-fronted Parrotlet | Touit dilectissimus
Blauwvoorhoofdpapegaai | Cotorrita cariazul
The Blue-fronted Parrotlet is a small, stocky parrot with a short, square tail that in the guide area occurs almost only in central and eastern Panama. It lives in the canopy of humid foothill and lowland forest and is the southern counterpart of Red-fronted Parrotlet. Groups fly fast and low over the forest.
Voice
A soft, nasal and somewhat plaintive nyee or chee, often repeated in flight; perched birds are usually silent.
Recording: Francisco Sornoza — CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 · converted to mono · xeno-canto
Identification
17 cm. Green, with a blue forehead and forecrown and a red stripe from the base of the bill below the eye. The male has a red patch on the bend of the wing and the lesser coverts; in the female it is smaller or largely green. The underwing coverts are yellow. The short tail is yellow with a black terminal band, the central feathers green. The bill is pale yellowish. Flight fast and direct, in pairs or small groups.
Confusion species
Red-fronted Parrotlet Touit costaricensis, in Costa Rica and western Panama, has a red rather than blue forehead and red around the eye. Orange-chinned Parakeet Brotogeris jugularis has a longer, pointed tail, an orange chin spot and brown shoulders. Brown-hooded Parrot Pyrilia haematotis is larger, with a brown head and red underwing.
Habitat
Humid foothill forest and lowland rainforest, also cloud forest on lower peaks and high forest edges; mainly between 400 and 1700 m, sometimes lower. It eats fruit, seeds and flowers in the canopy, including those of epiphytes. It nests in cavities, including termite nests in trees.
Where the bird is most at home, classified by the vegetation units of Mexico and Central America.
Range and movements
In Panama in the foothills and lower mountains of Coclé (around El Valle), Panamá province (Cerro Jefe and Cerro Azul), Guna Yala and Darién (including Cerro Pirre). In Costa Rica only a few records in the southeast. Outside the guide area in northwestern Colombia, western Ecuador and northwestern Venezuela.
- Resident
- dark = core range, pale = thinly spread
How and when to look
Along the roads at Cerro Azul and Cerro Jefe small groups sometimes fly over the forest; the nasal call is often the first sign. Perched birds in a fruiting tree blend into the foliage because of their green colour.
Conservation status
Not threatened. Sensitive to the loss of foothill forest.
Scientific name
Touit dilectissimus | (Sclater & Salvin, 1871)
Sclater & Salvin described the species in 1871 as Urochroma dilectissima; because it was later moved to another genus, the author and year stand in brackets. The genus Touit was introduced in 1855 by Gray. Touit comes from Tupi: tuí eté 'true little parrot', recorded by Marcgrave in 1648 as 'Tuiete'. dilectissimus is Latin for 'most beloved', 'very dear', superlative of dilectus 'beloved'. The specimen the first description was based on came from south of Mérida, Venezuela.