This fairly small parrot is noted for dramatic variation in the coloration of males and females. Males are greenish-yellow in color, with blue at the bend of the wing and red under the wing and on the sides of the body; females are mostly red and blue, with dull purple across the upper mantle, abdomen, and lower breast. Males have yellow-orange and black beaks, while female beaks are completely black.
The color differences, while unusual among parrots, have a ready explanation: the extreme differences in the lifestyles of the two sexes. The female is a stationary sentinel, guarding her tree-cavity nests for up to nine months of the year, starting even before she lays the one to three eggs in a typical clutch. Her bright red color acts a warning light, flashing "keep away" to other birds seeking to occupy her hollow. Male birds, however, forage the lush forests for food to provision a female (with sometimes five or more males tending a single female), and their green color lends helpful camouflage.
Eclectus parrots are excellent mimics of human speech. They also produce tones, coos, screeches, wails, whistles, and laughs.
The species has a large range -- nearly 400,000 square miles -- and has been adversely affected by habitat destruction (in addition to poaching for the pet trade), although they are classified as of "least concern" by the World Conservation Union. Pairs or small groups of the birds will travel through the upper forest canopy in search of fruits, seeds, nuts, blossoms, leaf buds, berries, nectar, and pollen. In the evenings, they set aside food gathering to take part in aerial displays. The birds then roost for the night in large groups of up to 80 birds.
Did you know? Until the beginning of the 20th century, male and female Eclectus parrots were considered two species because of their extreme coloration differences.
