Blue-winged Parrotlet - BirdForum Opus

Photo by Rogerio Araújo Dias
Brasilia, Brazil

Forpus xanthopterygius

Includes: Turquoise-winged Parrotlet; Large-billed Parrotlet

Identification

12–13 cm (4¾-5 in)

• Green overall plumage
• Underparts slightly yellower
• Horn bill
• Brown iris
  

Male

• Blue along wing edge and rump
  

Female: all green, yellow tinge on head and flanks

Distribution

Female
Photo by Orozimbo
Lins, SP, Brasil, October 2017

South America: found in Colombia, Venezuela, Guyana, Suriname, French Guiana, Ecuador, Bolivia, Brazil, Paraguay and Argentina.

Taxonomy

Forpus crassirostris has also been used as the scientific name for this species, even though the majority of world wide checklists now use Forpus xanthopterygius

Subspecies

Rufous Hornero nest (or "oven") taken over by Blue-winged Parrotlet
Photo by Daniesser
Nossa Fazenda, Esmeraldas, Minas Gerais, Brazil, December 2006

Three subspecies are recognized by Clements¹:

• F.x. spengeli:

• North Colombia

• F.x. crassirostris:

• South East Colombia to eastern Ecuador, northern Peru and western Brazil

• F.x. xanthopterygius:

• Bolivia (and south-eastern Peru?) east to north-eastern Brazil, and south to Paraguay and north-eastern Argentina

Some resources recognize F. crassirostris as a full species: Large-billed Parrotlet³.

Habitat

Adult Male
Photo © by Luiz
Resende, Rio de Janeiro State, Brasil,
26 October 2020

Cerrado, semi-open and shrubby areas, riverine thickets, forest borders, city parks, open woods, savanna.

Behaviour

Breeding

They nest in tree holes or use nests from other species, such as Rufous Hornero. There is little extra information available.

Diet

Their diet consists mainly of fruits, seeds, grass seeds and catkins.

References

1. 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/
2. SACC proposal discussing the two scientific names used for this species
3. Gill, F and D Donsker (Eds). 2015. IOC World Bird Names (version 5.3). Available at http://www.worldbirdnames.org/.
4. Dickinson, EC, ed. 2003. The Howard and Moore Complete Checklist of the Birds of the World. 3rd ed., with updates to October 2008 (Corrigenda 8). Princeton: Princeton Univ. Press. ISBN 978-0691117010
5. Arthur Grosset
6. Collar, N., J. del Hoyo, G. M. Kirwan, and P. F. D. Boesman (2020). Blue-winged Parrotlet (Forpus xanthopterygius), version 1.0. In Birds of the World (S. M. Billerman, B. K. Keeney, P. G. Rodewald, and T. S. Schulenberg, Editors). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, USA. https://doi.org/10.2173/bow.blwpar4.01
7. Avian Web

• List of references

Recommended Citation

• BirdForum Opus contributors. (2021) Blue-winged Parrotlet. In: BirdForum, the forum for wild birds and birding. Retrieved 29 April 2021 from https://www.birdforum.net/wiki/Blue-winged_Parrotlet

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