Red-faced Parrot Hapalopsittaca pyrrhops Scientific name definitions

None of the genus Hapalopsittaca can be described as numerous, and the Red-faced Parrot is currently considered Vulnerable. It is not found sympatrically with any congenerics, which has led some authors to propose that it might be considered conspecific with also very rare Indigo-winged Parrot (Hapalopsittaca fuertesi) and Rusty-faced Parrot (Hapalopsittaca amazonina). The present species is a largely green, and somewhat bulky-bodied parrot, characterized by its red forecrown, lores, cheeks and supercilium, yellow-streaked ear coverts, red shoulder patch, and dark blue primaries and tail. It is confined to the eastern Andes of southern Ecuador and adjacent northwest Peru, where it has recently been found at several ‘new’ localities. The species’ habitat requirements are typical of the genus as a whole, it being found in very wet, upper montane cloud forest and shrubby growth adjacent to páramo.

22 cm. Very like <em>H. amazonina</em> but entire area around bill orange-red, extending in line above and behind eye ; crown otherwise green, tinged blue; breast less olive; less blue on wing-coverts; tail dark blue, green at base; variable red patch on belly in some birds. Immature not known.

Very wet upper montane cloud forest , forest patches and shrubbery at the páramo ecotone, 2500–3500 m.

Miconia fruits, Viburnum berries, Weinmannia shoots, flowers and seeds, Clethra flowers and pods, and parts of ericaceous trees Cavendishia and Disterigma.

Flight call is a rather subdued, mellow-sounding “currrt”. When perched, utters a wider variety of calls, including some nasal “kyek” notes and more strident “crreet” calls.

Oct–Jan, possibly also Aug. Nest in cavity in tree. Eggs two, possibly sometimes three.

VULNERABLE. Previously listed as Endangered. CITES II. A BirdLife “restricted-range” species. Very uncommon and local in Ecuador, where forest clearance almost total within its elevational range in the Chilla Mountains; and rare (one locality) in Peru. Occurs at least seasonally in Sangay and Podocarpus National Parks, Cajas National Recreation Area and the adjacent Río Mazan Reserve, Ecuador.