Yellow-eared Parrot

Facts

IUCN CRITICALLY ENDANGERED (CR)

Facts about this animal

The Yellow-eared parrot is about 42 cm in length. Its underparts, sides of the neck and lower cheeks are dark green. The forehead, lores, upper cheeks and ear coverts are all yellow. The Stomach is yellowish-green becoming darker down towards thighs and under tail-coverts. It has green-yellow under wing-coverts, the undersides of the flight feathers are dull yellow. The tail is green above and dusky orange below. This parrot has a large, dark grey to black bill and grey legs. The iris is orange to reddish-brown, surrounded by a small, bare area which is black.

The Yellow-eared Parrot seems to be resident, but it may perform seasonal and irregular movements, according to the availability of food. They are noisy and highly gregarious birds, often seen in flocks of about 20 birds. But they can also be seen singly or in pairs. They sleep in pairs, side-by-side, and unpaired birds sleep in different places in 2 to 5 palm trees.

Yellow-eared parrots nest in holes in palm tree, and uses the same nests during their whole life.

Yellow-eared parrots feed mainly on cloud forest tree fruits in the canopy.

Did you know?
that, among nations, the yellow-eared parrot's homeland, Colombia, is the second richest after Brazil in biological diversity? It has the world's greatest variety of birds, with 1,889 species, as well as 358 kinds of mammals and more than 45,000 types of plants.

Factsheet
Class	AVES
Order	PSITTACIFORMES
Suborder	PSITTACI
Family	PSITTACIDAE
Name (Scientific)	Ognorhynchus icterotis
Name (English)	Yellow-eared Parrot
Name (French)	Perruche aux oreilles jaunes
Name (German)	Gelbohrsittich
Name (Spanish)	Periquito orejiamarillo
CITES Status	Appendix I
CMS Status	Not listed

Photo Copyright by
ProAves Colombia

Distribution

Distribution
Range	Colombia
Habitat	Humid montane forest, elfin forest and partially cleared terrain at 1,200-3,400 m
Wild population	212 mature individuals (2010) (Red List IUCN 2011)
Zoo population	None reported to ISIS (2006)

In the Zoo

How this animal should be transported

For air transport, Container Note 11D of the IATA Live Animals Regulations should be followed.

Find this animal on ZooLex

Photo Copyright by
ProAves Colombia

Why do zoos keep this animal

The Yellow-eared parrot is rated Critically endangered by IUCN, and the existence of a viable ex situ population would be of major conservation value. The species was, however, never common in aviculture and has not successfully bred.

The Loro Parque Fundación (LPF) and other zoos through the Zoologische Gesellschaft für Arten- und Populationsschutz e.V. (ZGAP) support two in situ conservation projects in Colombia and Ecquador respectively.

How this animal should be kept

An aviary for a pair or a small group of compatible birds must have a surface of no less than 4 x 2 m and a height of at least 2 m. In cold and temperate climates a frost free shelter or indoor aviary of at least 2 m² x 2 m high is necessary.

A variety of branches for perching, climbing and chewing is necessary to keep these intelligent birds busy.

Parrots may select food items on the basis of colour and texture rather than on taste or nutrient content. Therefore it is important to provide a variety of nutritionally valuable and, at the same time, interesting food. Pellets provide an ideal diet only in combination with other favourable and nutritionally suitable feeds, e.g. a mixture of apple, carrots soaked corn and vitamin/mineral supplement, soaked sunflower seeds, fruit (e.g. grapes, banana, pear, plum, orange, mango), vegetables (e.g. sweet pepper, chicory, courgette), nuts (walnuts, hazelnuts), and dog pellets.