Family Parrots (Psittacidae)
Least Concern
Niam-niam Parrot (Poicephalus crassus)
Taxonomy
French: Perroquet des Niam-niams German: Niamniampapagei Spanish: Lorito nianiam
Taxonomy:
Pionias crassus
Sharpe
, 1884,Ndoruma, upper Uele River
.Distribution:
SW Chad through Central African Republic to extreme SW South Sudan and extreme N DRCongo.
Descriptive notes
25 cm. Like P. cryptoxanthus with brown of throat extending more onto upper breast, underwing-coverts green, eye yellow (not red, as often stated). Immature... read more
Voice
Very few recordings available. Commonest call is a piercing bisyllabic screech “kee-rh” or “kee-ah... read more
Habitat
Forest-savanna mosaic, mixed lowland savanna and Syzygium-Adina riparian woodland, often... read more
Food and feeding
Millet and pale yellow seeds in stomachs.
Breeding
Probably breeds from start of Aug in Zaire and Central African Republic.
Movements
Generally believed sedentary but with some nomadism and considerable daily displacements.
Status and conservation
Not globally threatened. CITES II. The least known African parrot, assumed to be frequent to common in its poorly explored range, but this needs confirmation. Present but... read more
Thought to form a species-group with P. meyeri, P. rueppellii and P. cryptoxanthus, and possibly others. In past, treated as race of P. cryptoxanthus, to which morphologically it is extremely close. Monotypic.