The Ornate Lorikeet is a monotypic species of parrot

Parrot

Parrots, also known as psittacines , are birds of the roughly 372 species in 86 genera that make up the order Psittaciformes, found in most tropical and subtropical regions. The order is subdivided into three families: the Psittacidae , the Cacatuidae and the Strigopidae...

 in the Psittacidae family. It is endemic to Sulawesi

Sulawesi

Sulawesi is one of the four larger Sunda Islands of Indonesia and is situated between Borneo and the Maluku Islands. In Indonesia, only Sumatra, Borneo, and Papua are larger in territory, and only Java and Sumatra have larger Indonesian populations.- Etymology :The Portuguese were the first to...

 and nearby smaller islands in Indonesia

Indonesia

Indonesia , officially the Republic of Indonesia , is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Indonesia is an archipelago comprising approximately 13,000 islands. It has 33 provinces with over 238 million people, and is the world's fourth most populous country. Indonesia is a republic, with an...

. It is found in forest, woodland, mangrove and plantations, and is locally common.

Description

The Ornate Lorikeet is a mainly green parrot about 25 cm (10.0 in) long. Its head above its eyes is purple-blue and its face below its eyes is red. There is red at back of the head and yellow behind the eyes. It does not have a collar at the back of the neck that Rainbow Lorikeets have. Its chin to chest has transverse strips and bars of red and blue. Its abdomen is green with sparse variable yellow scalloping. The beak is orange-red, the irises are dark orange, the eye-ring is dark grey, and the legs are grey.

External links

• Oriental Bird Images: Ornate Lorikeet Selected photos