Fun Facts About The Parrot

The order Psittaciformes is an order that includes over 350 species of bird including parrots, parakeets, cockatoos, and macaws. Whilst there are plenty of different types of parrots, they all share a few common traits. For example in order for a bird to be classified as a species of parrot, it must have a curve beak. Additionally its feat must have four tows on each foot, with two of them pointing backwards and the other two pointing forwards.

Size

Because there are so many different species of parrots their size varies widely. Parrots range in size from between 3.5 to 40 inches and can weigh between 64 grams to 1.6 kilograms.

Habitat

Parrots tend to prefer warmer climates and can be found in the Southern Hemisphere predominantly though there are plenty of other regions in the world they can be found including South and Central America, Australia and Northern Mexico.

Not all parrots prefer warm weather however and there are some that like to live in cold climates where there is snow.

Because they are colourful and have the ability to mimic human speech, the parrot is very popular as a pet. Some parrots have managed to escape captivity and have ended up breeding in some particularly unusual areas. For example the monk parakeet is very popular as a pet and is native to sub tropical South America though it can now be found in the United States after some escaped and ended up breeding in the wild.

Habits

The parrot is a social bird that tends to live in flocks. The grey parrot of Africa lives in flocks containing as many as 30 birds.

One particularly interesting fact is most species of parrots tend to be monogamous and spend their lives with only a single mate. Both mates work together to raise their offspring. Parrots tend to communicate with other members of the flock by moving their tail feathers and squaking.

There are certain types of parrots such as the kakpo which are nocturnal. This species tends to sleep during the day and forages for food at night time.

Diet

Parrots can eat both meat and vegetarian which makes them an omnivorous species. The diet of the average parrot includes fruit, flowers, nuts, seeds, buds and insects. Seeds are by far the parrots favourite type of food. The parrot has a strong jaw which enables it to snap open a nutshell which gives them access to the seed inside.

Offspring

Like most species of birds, the parrot lays its egg in a nest. Some species take advantage of tree holes to lay their eggs, or use termite mounds, rock cavities and ground tunnels. Usually a parrot will lay between two to eight eggs and each egg requires between 18 to 30 days of incubation before the baby parrot hatches.

The baby parrot or chick is born with a thin layer of wispy feathers known as down. The chicks are blind for the first couple of weeks and by the third week, start to grow their adult feathers. The chick fully matures anywhere between one to four years depending on the species.