The Yellow-fronted Parrot (Poicephalus flavifrons) is endemic to the Ethiopian Highlands

Ethiopian Highlands

The Ethiopian Highlands are a rugged mass of mountains in Ethiopia, Eritrea , and northern Somalia in the Horn of Africa...

. It is a mostly green 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...

 with a yellow head. Relatively little is known about this bird.

Taxonomy

German naturalist Eduard Rüppell

Eduard Rüppell

Wilhelm Peter Eduard Simon Rüppell was a German naturalist and explorer. Rüppell is occasionally transliterated to "Rueppell" for the English alphabet....

 first described the Yellow-fronted Parrot in 1845. Its species name is derived from the Latin

Latin

Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...

 words flavus "yellow", and frons "forehead". It is also known as the Yellow-faced Parrot. Most recent authorities treat it as monotypic

Monotypic

In biology, a monotypic taxon is a taxonomic group with only one biological type. The term's usage differs slightly between botany and zoology. The term monotypic has a separate use in conservation biology, monotypic habitat, regarding species habitat conversion eliminating biodiversity and...

, but some recognized two slightly different subspecies

Subspecies

Subspecies in biological classification, is either a taxonomic rank subordinate to species, ora taxonomic unit in that rank . A subspecies cannot be recognized in isolation: a species will either be recognized as having no subspecies at all or two or more, never just one...

, P. f. flavifrons and P. f. aurantiiceps.

Description

The Yellow-fronted Parrot is about 28 centimetres (11 in) long and is mostly green with the upper parts being a darker green, the tail being olive-brown, and the legs a dark grey-brown. The face is orange-yellow. When two subspecies are recognized, the nominate is believed to have yellow to its head and face, while in P. f. suahelicus some of the yellow is replaced with orange. The upper beak is brownish-grey and the lower beak is bone coloured, the irises are orange-red, and bare eye-rings and cere

Cère

The Cère is a long river in south-western France, left tributary of the Dordogne River. Its source is in the south-western Massif Central, near the mountain Plomb du Cantal...

 are grey. Male and female adults have identical external appearance. Juveniles are duller than the adults with a mostly grey head, brown irises, and only a small amount of yellow on the front of the face including on the forehead.

Range

This parrot is endemic to the Ethiopian Highlands

Ethiopian Highlands

The Ethiopian Highlands are a rugged mass of mountains in Ethiopia, Eritrea , and northern Somalia in the Horn of Africa...

 at about 1000 – above sea level. When two subspecies are recognized, the nominate is found in the highlands around Lake Tana

Lake Tana

Lake Tana is the source of the Blue Nile and is the largest lake in Ethiopia...

 and also in central Ethiopia, and P. f. suahelicus is found in southwestern Ethiopia. It lives in forest habitats, unlike most other Poicephalus parrots apart from the Cape

Cape Parrot

The Cape Parrot or Levaillant's Parrot is a large, temperate forest dwelling Poicephalus parrot endemic to South Africa. It has 2 subspecies which may be considered distinct species, the savanna dwelling Brown-necked Parrot and Grey-headed Parrot The Cape Parrot (Poicephalus robustus) or...

 and Red-fronted Parrot superspecies complex.