The Vulturine Parrot not to be confused with Pesquet's Parrot

Pesquet's Parrot

Pesquet's Parrot also known as the Vulturine Parrot , is the only member of its genus, and its genus is the only member of the tribe Psittrichadini...

 (Psittrichas fulgidus), is a Neotropical parrot

Neotropical parrot

The Neotropical parrots belong to the family of the true parrots Psittacidae. Several species and one of the 32 modern genera have become extinct in recent centuries. Though fairly few fossils of modern parrots are known, most of these are from Arini...

, which is endemic

Endemism in birds

An endemic bird area is a region of the world that contains two or more restricted-range species, while a "secondary area" contains one or more restricted-range species. Both terms were devised by Birdlife International....

 to humid forest and adjacent habitats in the eastern Amazon

Amazon Rainforest

The Amazon Rainforest , also known in English as Amazonia or the Amazon Jungle, is a moist broadleaf forest that covers most of the Amazon Basin of South America...

 of Brazil

Brazil

Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...

.

Taxonomy

Until recently, it was placed in the genus

Genus

In biology, a genus is a low-level taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms, which is an example of definition by genus and differentia...

 Pionopsitta, which now is restricted to the type species, P. pileata

Pileated Parrot

The Pileated Parrot , also known as the Red-capped Parrot , is a medium-small species of parrot with a total length of about 22 cm . It is found in or near Atlantic Forest in south-eastern Brazil, far north-eastern Argentina, and eastern Paraguay...

. Furthermore, individuals previously believed to be immature

Sexual maturity

Sexual maturity is the age or stage when an organism can reproduce. It is sometimes considered synonymous with adulthood, though the two are distinct...

 Vulturine Parrots were described as a new species, the Bald Parrot (Pyrilia aurantiocephala), in 2002.

Description

The Vulturine Parrot has a total length of ca. 24 cm (9½ in). It has a rather short, squarish tail, and a mainly green plumage

Plumage

Plumage refers both to the layer of feathers that cover a bird and the pattern, colour, and arrangement of those feathers. The pattern and colours of plumage vary between species and subspecies and can also vary between different age classes, sexes, and season. Within species there can also be a...

, which typically is tinged blue, especially below. The chest is olive-brown. The underwing coverts

Covert (feather)

A covert feather on a bird is one of a set of feathers, called coverts, which as the name implies, cover other feathers. The coverts help to smooth airflow over the wings and tail.- Wing-coverts :...

 are bright red, and when perched this can be hinted as an orange-red shoulder-patch. The under-tail is yellowish with a bluish tip (appears dark against light). The outer webs and tips of the remiges are bluish-black, making the outer sections of the upperwing appear quite uniformly dark in flight. The arguably most conspicuous feature, however, is its un-feathered blackish and orange-pinkish head, bordered by a broad yellow collar of feathers, followed by a second blackish collar. This bare, vaguely vulture

Vulture

Vulture is the name given to two groups of convergently evolved scavenging birds, the New World Vultures including the well-known Californian and Andean Condors, and the Old World Vultures including the birds which are seen scavenging on carcasses of dead animals on African plains...

-like head is the reason behind its common name

Common name

A common name of a taxon or organism is a name in general use within a community; it is often contrasted with the scientific name for the same organism...

. Juvenile

Juvenile (organism)

A juvenile is an individual organism that has not yet reached its adult form, sexual maturity or size. Juveniles sometimes look very different from the adult form, particularly in terms of their colour...

s have a feathered greenish head.

Little is known about its behavior, but it is suspected the bare head is an adaptation

Adaptation

An adaptation in biology is a trait with a current functional role in the life history of an organism that is maintained and evolved by means of natural selection. An adaptation refers to both the current state of being adapted and to the dynamic evolutionary process that leads to the adaptation....

 to avoid feather-matting from sticky fruit

Fruit

In broad terms, a fruit is a structure of a plant that contains its seeds.The term has different meanings dependent on context. In non-technical usage, such as food preparation, fruit normally means the fleshy seed-associated structures of certain plants that are sweet and edible in the raw state,...

s. It has also been recorded feeding on seeds

SEEDS

SEEDS is a voluntary organisation registered under the Societies Act of India....

 and berries

Berry

The botanical definition of a berry is a fleshy fruit produced from a single ovary. Grapes are an example. The berry is the most common type of fleshy fruit in which the entire ovary wall ripens into an edible pericarp. They may have one or more carpels with a thin covering and fleshy interiors....

.