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 reflected by the structure of the feather they produce the familiar green. They are hole nesters with white, almost round eggs and naked, helpless young; they are long lived, live in company, and have loud calls and a strong capacity for mimicry. In southern Africa they breed almost entirely in natural rot cavities and old woodpecker holes in large, old trees, and the order commutes daily over long distances between roost and fruiting trees.

Families in this order

Parrots | Psittacidae6 speciesThe parrots of Africa and those of the New World make up this family; in southern Africa it is represented by Poicephalus, a genus of thickset parrots with a large head, a short square-cut tail and a heavy grey-black to horn-coloured bill. The plumage is largely green, with a brown, grey or blackish head set off sharply from the body, and with yellow or red on the bend of the wing, the thighs, the crown or the rump; in a few species the female differs from the male in the colour of crown or forehead. The bill cracks the hard kernels of marula, mopane and other hardwood fruits, the flesh often being discarded; blossom, nectar and unripe seed are taken as well. The flight is fast and direct, with stiff shallow beats below the line of the body, and a shrill far-carrying call that almost always betrays the birds before they are seen. They live in pairs and small parties that move between fixed roost trees and feeding trees at first light and towards dusk, and breed in an unlined rot cavity or old woodpecker hole, where the female incubates alone and is fed by the male.
Old World parakeets | Psittaculidae5 speciesThis family gathers the parrots of the Old World and rests mainly on molecular data; in appearance its members differ widely. What they share is a small to medium size, largely green plumage, and in many species a long, graduated tail with narrow pointed wings, giving a fast and direct flight. They feed in the crowns on fruit, buds, blossom and seed, dropping a good deal of it as they go; outside the breeding season large numbers roost together in the same tall trees, calling loudly as they arrive and leave. In the tree hole the female incubates alone and is fed by the male.