Alternative name: Yellow-breasted Pygmy Parrot
- Micropsitta meeki
Identification
10 cm.
- Dusky grey-brown head with light barring and usually with indistinct yellow superciliary
- Yellow nape and underparts with weak brown edging (giving a vague scaled effect)
- Green back and wings with black spotting on median wing-coverts
- Tail grey and yellow below and green above
- proxima with paler head and more prominent yellow superiliary
Sexes similar, immatures undescribed.
Distribution
Admiralty Islands and Bismarck Archipelago, Papua New Guinea.
A restricted-range species. Common on Manus and Lou.
Taxonomy
Two subspecies recognized:
- M. m. meeki on Admiralty Islands
- M. m. proxima on the Bismarck Archipelago (Mussau and Emirau)
Habitat
Found in primary and degraded forest. More common in the latter.
Behaviour
A poorly known species.
Diet
Recorded pecking at small protuberances, apparently fungi. Also seen nibbling lichen off tree-trunk.
Breeding
One nest recorded in an arboreal termitarium. No other information.
References
- Clements, J. F., T. S. Schulenberg, M. J. Iliff, S. M. Billerman, T. A. Fredericks, B. L. Sullivan, and C. L. Wood. 2019. The eBird/Clements Checklist of Birds of the World: v2019. Downloaded from http://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/download/
- Del Hoyo, J, A Elliot, and J Sargatal, eds. 1997. Handbook of the Birds of the World. Volume 4: Sandgrouse to Cuckoos. Barcelona: Lynx Edicions. ISBN 978-8487334221
- Gill F, D Donsker & P Rasmussen (Eds). 2021. IOC World Bird List (v11.1). doi : 10.14344/IOC.ML.11.1. http://www.worldbirdnames.org/
Recommended Citation
- BirdForum Opus contributors. (2024) Meek's Pygmy Parrot. In: BirdForum, the forum for wild birds and birding. Retrieved 26 April 2024 from https://www.birdforum.net/opus/Meek%27s_Pygmy_Parrot
