More Parrots
The cockatiel’s closest parrot relative is the cockatoo. A cockatiel is, in fact, a kind of mini cockatoo. Cockatoos are a family of large, crested birds. They range in size from around 12 to 29 inches (30 to 74 centimeters) high. Cockatoos live in Australia and parts of Southeast Asia. Some types of cockatoos are white, and these birds may have yellow, pale pink, peach, or orange in their crests and under their wings. Other cockatoos, called palm cockatoos, are black. Rose-breasted cockatoos, or galahs, are gray and pink.
Australia is the original home of another parrot related to the cockatiel—budgerigars (buhj uhr ee GAHRZ), also known as budgies or parakeets.
Other relatives include Amazons, gray parrots, lories and lorikeets, lovebirds, macaws, and pocket parrots.
Amazons are a group of parrots native to Latin America and some Caribbean islands. Yellow-headed Amazons are especially famous for their singing. Many of these birds have been known to learn songs from operas, called arias (AH ree uhz), but ordinarily they make up their own words and tunes for the songs they sing.
Amazons are mostly green, short-tailed, chunky birds that are also known for their excellent talking abilities. Common Amazon pet species include the yellow-headed (also called double yellows), yellow-naped, orange-winged, red-lored, blue-fronted, mealy, and lilac-crowned. Some of the best talkers among this group are the yellow-headed and the yellow-naped Amazons.
Amazons are bold, noisy, playful, acrobatic, and curious. They have a reputation for taking a strong like or dislike to certain people.
Brotogeris (broh toh JAIR uhs) parrots and parrotlets are tiny parrots from Latin America. Both kinds of birds are called pocket parrots because of their small size and because they like to tuck themselves into pockets and other small spaces. Even though these parrots are small, they have all the personality of larger parrots.
Popular types of Brotogeris parrots include canary-winged parakeets, orange-chinned parakeets, and gray-cheeked parakeets. Members of this genus are feisty, playful birds. They do, however, have loud and raspy voices.
Unlike Brotogeris parrots, parrotlets are quiet birds that seldom screech. Parrotlets instead prefer to make sweet-sounding chirps.
The males and females of most parrot species do not look very different from one another. The two actually look quite alike.
There is one type of parrot species, though, in which the males and females look completely different. When these birds were first discovered, scientists thought the males and females were two different species of bird. When scientists discovered that these birds were of the same species, they named the species eclectus, which means “made up of a variety of characteristics.”
Eclectus parrots are from Australia, New Guinea, and Southeast Asia. The males are bright green with touches of red and blue on the wings and an orange-yellow upper beak. The females are brilliant red, blue, and purple, with a black beak.
