tags: Perija parakeet, Pyrrhura caeruleiceps, tags: birds, parrots, ornithology, zoology, Image of the Day
The critically endangered Perija Parakeet, Pyrrhura caeruleiceps, was photographed in the wild for the first time by Adriana Tovar and Luis Eduardo Urueña on the same expedition where they photographed the recurve-billed bushbird, thanks to Loro Parque Fundacion. The Perija parakeet population is estimated to be between 30 to 50 individual birds due to habitat destruction (deforestation and burning to create agricultural areas). ProAves researchers took these photographs in early June 2007. As you can plainly see, this beautiful parrot has a very distinctive blue nape and white breast, and is threatened by habitat disturbance and loss, and potentially by illegal bird traders. "As more and more remote areas are being settled, the Perija parakeet reminds us how important it is to conserve as much natural habitat as we can," said Paul Salaman of the American Bird Conservancy. "Who knows what wonderful biodiversity is being destroyed before it has had a chance to be discovered?" Eye to eye with the camera, a rare Perija parrot, from Colombia, South America. A rare Perija parrot chews on a leaf.
(more images below the fold)
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GrrlScientist is an evolutionary biologist, ornithologist, aviculturist, birder and freelance science and nature writer. A native of the Pacific Northwest, she relocated from Seattle to NYC with her parrots after earning a BS in Microbiology (emphasis in Virology) and PhD in Zoology (Ornithology) from the University of Washington. In NYC, she was the Chapman Postdoctoral Fellow at the American Museum of Natural History for two years, pursuing part of her "dream" research project by reconstructing a molecular phylogeny of the parrots of the South Pacific islands. GrrlScientist and her five parrots are currently relocating to Germany, where she will continue writing her blog while also writing a book and learning German. (Meanwhile, her parrots will continue to nibble on her extensive personal library.) If you appreciate GrrlScientist's writing, you can help pay her living expenses by hiring her to "blog" your conference, speak at your club or write articles for your publication (or by clicking on the Paypal button below). If you read an essay on this blog that you especially enjoyed, please nominate it for inclusion in OpenLab2009.
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Perija Parakeet
Topic Categories: Image of the Day
Posted on: July 12, 2007 2:59 PM, by "GrrlScientist"
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Comments
Looking at the middle picture I wonder who is studying whom?
A spectacular bird that, like its dowdy relatives, we need to protect.
Posted by: Chris' Wills | July 12, 2007 3:38 PM
All the Pyrrhura parrots are gorgeous, and some of them are, of course, among the more popular pet conures. I have always been fascinated with the Pionites parrots, none of which seem to be at all common in captivity, though sometimes I am treated to pics of Barraband's parrots eating clay at Manu along with blue-headed Pionus. Anyway, habitat preservation is the way to go in order to keep these birds around to appreciate.
Posted by: Tlazolteotl | July 12, 2007 4:55 PM