Species Fact Profile: Hawk-Headed Parrot (Deroptyus accipitrinus)

                Hawk-Headed Parrot (Red-Fan Parrot)

                          Deroptyus accipitrinus (Linnaeus, 1758)

Range: Northern and central South America, east of the Andes

Habitat:  Lowland Rainforest, Tropical Savannah

Diet: Leaves, Buds, Fruits, Seeds, Pollen, some Insects  

Social Grouping: Pairs or Small Flocks (usually about 4, but up to 20)

Reproduction: Monogamous, possibly for life.  Breeding season varies across range, but primarily from December through February, nesting January through March.  Lay 2-4 ovate/elliptical eggs (3.6 x 2.6 centimeters) in a tree cavity, incubated for 25-26 days.  Often use the same cavity for several years in a row.  Very few nests have been observed in wild, both with only 1 chick.  Female sits on eggs while male forages. Chicks are blind and helpless at time of hatching.  Fledge at 9-10 weeks, independent shortly after.  Both parents care for the young.  Sexually mature at 4-7 years old.

Lifespan: 30 Years

      Conservation Status: IUCN Least Concern, CITES Appendix II

•       Body length 35 centimeters, weight 190-280 grams.  
•          Sexes look alike.  Upper parts, lower underparts, and wings are green.  Bare black patch around the brown (juvenile) or yellow (adult) eyes.  The breast and abdomen are dark red, scalloped with blue.  The head may be cream colored or brown with some streaking.  Underside of tail feathers black.  Sometimes there is a red spot under the base of the tail
•       The feathers at the back of the neck are long and red, tipped with blue. When angry, agitated, or otherwise excited, the feathers at the back of the neck will stand erect, making the parrot look larger and more threatening, usually accompanied by swaying from side to side and vocalizing.  This is the source of the other common name for this species, the red-fan parrot
•       Will enter farms and plantations to eat guava and other crops.  Primarily forage in the canopy
•       Two subspecies – nominate, or blue-crowned (north of the Amazon) and D. a. fuscifrons (south of the Amazon, sometimes called the Brazilian), differing in coloration of forehead and crown and the base of the tail (nominate has white crown and maroon band at base of tail, fuscifrons has a brownish head and no maroon on the tail).
•       Primary threat is deforestation (have some tolerance for disturbed habitats), coupled with some capture for the pet trade (tendency to roost alone or in small groups makes them more difficult, less worthwhile to trap than many species).  Not particularly common in pet trade, primarily due to aggressive nature, both towards humans and other parrots (becoming less predictable and more antisocial as they mature), but sometimes kept as an aviary bird
•       Reported tendency for males to try to kill chicks in pet trade, so chicks often handreared