The Papuan King Parrot also known as the Green-winged King Parrot, is a 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 found in West Papua and Papua New Guinea

Papua New Guinea

Papua New Guinea , officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea, is a country in Oceania, occupying the eastern half of the island of New Guinea and numerous offshore islands...

.
Its natural habitat

Habitat

* Habitat , a place where a species lives and grows*Human habitat, a place where humans live, work or play** Space habitat, a space station intended as a permanent settlement...

s are subtropical or tropical moist lowland forest

Forest

A forest, also referred to as a wood or the woods, is an area with a high density of trees. As with cities, depending where you are in the world, what is considered a forest may vary significantly in size and have various classification according to how and what of the forest is composed...

s and subtropical or tropical moist montane forests.

Taxonomy

First described by Australian ornithologist Edward Pierson Ramsay

Edward Pierson Ramsay

Edward Pierson Ramsay was an Australian zoologist who specialised in ornithology.-Early life:Pierson was born in Dobroyd Estate, Long Cove, Sydney and educated at St Mark's Collegiate School, The King's School, Parramatta...

 in 1879, the Papuan King Parrot is one of three species known as king parrots found in Australia, Papua New Guinea, and West Papua/Indonesia. Three subspecies are recognized:

• Alisterus chloropterus (Ramsay, EP 1879)
  • Alisterus chloropterus chloropterus (Ramsay, EP 1879), the nominate subspecies, which occurs in eastern New Guinea to the Huon Peninsula
    Huon Peninsula
    Huon Peninsula is a large rugged peninsula on the island of New Guinea in Morobe Province, eastern Papua New Guinea. It is named after French explorer Jean-Michel Huon de Kermadec who discovered it along with his personal assistant and porter, Henry Ole. The peninsula is dominated by the steep...
    
     in the north, and Hall Sound in the south.
  • Alisterus chloropterus callopterus (Albertis & Salvadori 1879) is found in the Central Highlands
    New Guinea Highlands
    The New Guinea Highlands, also known as the Central Range or Central Cordillera, are a chain of mountain ranges and intermountain river valleys, many of which support thriving agricultural communities, on the large island of New Guinea, which lies to the north of Australia...
    
     west to the Weyland Mountains, the Sepik
    Sepik
    Sepik may refer to places in Papua New Guinea:*Sepik River*East Sepik - a province*Sandaun - a province formerly known as West Sepik*Sepik region - consisting of East Sepik and Sandaun provincesIn languages it may refer to:...
    
     River area and upper Fly River
    Fly River
    The Fly at , is the second longest river, after the Sepik, in Papua New Guinea. The Fly is the largest river in Oceania, the largest in the world without a single dam in its catchment, and overall ranks as the twenty-fifth largest river in the world by volume of discharge...
    
    .
  • Alisterus chloropterus moszkowskii (Reichenow 1911) is found in the north of the island, from Cenderawasih Bay
    Cenderawasih Bay
    Cenderawasih Bay , also Teluk Sarera , formerly Geelvink Bay is a large bay in northern Province of Papua and West Papua, New Guinea, Indonesia, at . The Dutch name comes after a Dutch ship and family called Geelvinck...
    
     east to the Aitape
    Aitape
    Aitape is a small town of about 8,000 people on the north coast of Papua New Guinea in the Sandaun Province. It is a coastal settlement that is almost equidistant from the provincial capitals of Wewak and Vanimo, and marks the midpoint of the highway between these two capitals...
    
     region.

Description

The Papuan King Parrot is 36 cm (14 in) long including a long broad tail. It has dark grey legs and orange irises. The three subspecies of the Papuan King Parrot all show sexual dimorphism

Sexual dimorphism

Sexual dimorphism is a phenotypic difference between males and females of the same species. Examples of such differences include differences in morphology, ornamentation, and behavior.-Examples:-Ornamentation / coloration:...

and in all three subspecies the male can be identified by a prominent broad pale-green band on each wing (resembling a shoulder stripe). The differences in the females between subspecies are more marked than the differences in the males.

The male has a red head and neck, red lower parts, blue back and rump, green wings each with a broad band of pale-green. In the male of A. c. chloropterus the blue extents upwards from the back to the hind neck. In the female the of A. c. chloropterus and A. c. calloterus the abdomen is red, the green over the head and neck is continuous with green of the back and wings, and the chest has vague transverse green and red striations. The female of subspecies A. c. moszkowskii has a red head, neck, chest, and lower abdomen resembling the male, and differs from the male with its much smaller pale-green wing band.

Distribution and habitat

Found on in central and eastern New Guinea east of the Weyland Mountains, it lives in forests up to an altitude of 2600 metres.

Behaviour

Birds are encountered in ones or twos, or in small flocks up to ten birds. It feeds quietly in dense forest generally in small trees or low branches of large trees, and are often unnoticed. They eat berries, fruit, seeds and possibly some insects.