Small Feral Parrot, Torrevieja, Spain (no photo) (1 Viewer)

bitterntwisted

Graham Howard Shortt

• Jun 24, 2009

• #1

Apparently nesting in a hole in a building near the sea front, and seen only briefly without binoculars. Please excuse the scant description from a brief and unexpected view.

Small parrot, (lovebird size, smaller than a Starling, and initially thought it was a swallow) All black head, apparently all blue body and wings, but only mantle seen clearly which was almost irridescent, kingfisher blue in sunlight.

What are the possibilities? I also saw Monk and Ring-necked Parakeets but no idea what this was.

Thanks,
Graham

 

John Cantelo

Well-known member

• Jun 25, 2009

• #2

I've twice thumbed through the plates in my copy of 'Parrots' (Juniper & Parr) and can find nothing to match this description. The nearest I've come to it is Yellow-collared Lovebird which has the black(ish) head but a largely bright green body. It has, though, been reported as a feral bird in Valencia. The only other possibility might be Blue-rumped Parrot females of which appear to have dusky heads and a limited amount of blue on the rump (otherwise also green). Males lack the dusky head but seem to have much more extensive blue rumps. As far as I'm aware it hasn't been reported in the wild in Iberia.

 

chowchilla

Well-known member

• Jun 25, 2009

• #3

John Cantelo said:

I've twice thumbed through the plates in my copy of 'Parrots' (Juniper & Parr) and can find nothing to match this description. The nearest I've come to it is Yellow-collared Lovebird which has the black(ish) head but a largely bright green body. It has, though, been reported as a feral bird in Valencia. The only other possibility might be Blue-rumped Parrot females of which appear to have dusky heads and a limited amount of blue on the rump (otherwise also green). Males lack the dusky head but seem to have much more extensive blue rumps. As far as I'm aware it hasn't been reported in the wild in Iberia.

Click to expand...

I'm sure I recall a photo on here last year of a 'mystery parrot' which on inspection was clearly a lovebird, but it had a blue body. It appeared to be some sort of colour variant presumably bred to look that way. This bird (which I'm guessing is an escapee) I would venture to guess is some odd domesticated variety of lovebird.

 

Gill Osborne

Well-known member

• Jun 25, 2009

• #4

It sounds like a colour variety of lovebird. When I worked in a pet shop years ago we used to have blue lovebirds like in the link below

http://www.animal-image.com/Birds/Lovebirds/Blue Masked Lovebird/index.php

 

Stew

Well-known member

• Jun 25, 2009

• #5

A small proportion of the feral Fischer's Lovebirds near Nice are also blue.

 

Joern Lehmhus

Well-known member

• Jun 25, 2009

• #6

sounds like the domestic blue variant of a Lovebird,


the ones near Nice are probably not pure fischeri (Personata x fischeri mixes?).

here is a blue one from there:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/14195020@N08/2884957410/

and here some wild colored ones:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/14195020@N08/2884957130/

also one blue on last photo...

http://www.flickr.com/photos/14195020@N08/2884123987/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/14195020@N08/2884124685/

 

Last edited: Jun 25, 2009

apbarr

Well-known member

• Jun 25, 2009

• #7

Blue mutation Black-masked Lovebirds are common in aviculture and relatively cheap to buy. This sounds like the most likely option.

http://media.photobucket.com/image/black-masked lovebird/X-Evolutionist/DSC00442Small.jpg

 

bitterntwisted

Graham Howard Shortt

• Jun 25, 2009

• #8

Thanks, everyone. I did a little more googling myself and independently arrived at the blue variant of Agapornis personata, known in aviculture as Blue Masked Lovebird, as several of you suggested. The species name in ornithological circles seems to be Yellow-collared Lovebird more often than Masked Lovebird. Apparently this is a variant which also occurs in the wild according to this site,... http://animal-world.com/encyclo/birds/lovebirds/bluemaskedlovebird.php. As the head was all black this seems to rule out Fischer's Lovebird, Agapornis fischeri, the blue morph of which seems to have a paler, grey head.

If anyone wants to monitor them or check if they are breeding the apparent nest site was the third floor of an apartment block on Avenida de la Purisima at the junction of Calle Goleta, central Torrevieja.

Thanks again,
Graham

 

bitterntwisted

Graham Howard Shortt

• Jun 25, 2009

• #9

PS - fans of plastic birds (see http://www.hows.org.uk/inter/birds/2008trip/cyp/euro2.htm) may be interested to note I also saw a Red-cheeked Cordon Bleu at the Aquopolis Water Park in Torrevieja... http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?hl=en...G2Dw&sa=X&oi=geocode_result&ct=title&resnum=1