Bird name:

Thick-billed Parrot

Rhynchopsitta pachyrhyncha

Order

PSITTACIFORMES

Family

Parakeets and Parrots (Psittacidae)

Code 4

TBPA

Code 6

RHYPAC

ITIS

177411

Breeding Location:

Breeding Type:

Monogamous, Solitary nester

Breeding Population:

Egg Color:

Glossy white

Number of Eggs:

1 - 4

Incubation Days:

Egg Incubator:

Female

Nest Material:

Migration:

Nonmigratory

RECOMMENDED PRODUCTS

General

Thick-billed Parrot: Large, green parrot with dark thick bill, orange bare-skinned eye-ring, and red forehead, shoulders, and thighs. In flight shows striking black tail and flight feathers, with bright green, yellow, and red patches on wing coverts. Sexes are similar. Juvenile has paler gray bill, bare gray skin around eye, and reduced red on head and wings.

Range and Habitat

Thick-billed Parrot: Resident in the Sierra Madre Occidental of western Mexico. Formerly ranged as far north as southern Arizona; attempts to reestablish these populations have not been successful. Inhabits mature pine and conifer forests on slopes and mountains, but populations are declining due to deforestation.

Breeding and Nesting

Thick-billed Parrot: Lays one to four glossy white eggs. Female incubates for 25 to 28 days while male brings her food. Altricial young remain in nest 59 to 65 days. Breeding coincides with pine seed crops, usually beginning in April or May.

Foraging and Feeding

Thick-billed Parrot: Extracts seeds from pinecones; flocks of several to hundreds of birds travel long distances in search of food.

Vocalization

Thick-billed Parrot: Makes a harsh, rolling "craa-aak" but also many other screams, squawks, and laughing calls.

Similar Species

Thick-billed Parrot: Maroon-fronted Parrot has dark maroon-red forehead and lacks yellow patches on wings.

Percevia^® Registered in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.

The Percevia field guides, database and search protocol patent pending.

The best bird guide and bird watching search engine to identify birds!

Bird Call Credits: The Macaulay Library of Natural Sounds at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Martyn Stewart, http://www.naturesound.org, Redmond, Washington USA. The reuse or copying of bird calls in this database is strictly forbidden.

Flight feathers

Located on the wing, and collectively called remiges (singular, remex). The long stiff feathers are subdivided into two major groups based on the location and are called primaries and secondaries.

Wing coverts

The feathers that cover and protect the flight feathers.

4 and 6 letter alpha codes

The four letter common name alpha code is is derived from the first two letters of the common first name and the first two letters of common last name. The six letter species name alpha code is derived from the first three letters of the scientific name (genus) and the first three letters of the scientific name (species). See (1) below for the rules used to create the codes..

Four-letter (for English common names) and six-letter (for scientific names) species alpha codes were developed by Pyle and DeSante (2003, North American Bird-Bander 28:64-79) to reflect A.O.U. taxonomy and nomenclature (A.O.U. 1998) as modified by Supplements 42 (Auk 117:847-858, 2000) and 43 (Auk 119:897-906, 2002). The list has been updated by Pyle and DeSante to reflect changes reported by the A.O.U from 2003 through 2006.

Field Guide to Birds of North America