Sri Lanka Hanging Parrot
Encyclopedia
The Sri Lanka Hanging Parrot (Loriculus beryllinus) is a small parrot
which is a resident endemic
breeder in Sri Lanka
.
, only 13 cm long with a short tail. The adult has a red crown and rump. The nape and back have on orange tint. The chin and throat are pale blue. The beak is red and the irises are white.
Immature birds lack the orange hue to the back, have a duller rump, and have only a hint of orange on the crown. They have a feint blue throat. They have orange beaks and brown irises.
Sri Lanka Hanging Parrot is a bird of open forest. It is strictly arboreal, never descending to the ground. It nests in holes in trees, laying 2–3 eggs.
, this bird is known as Gira Maliththa or Pol Girwa in Sinhala Language. Hanging Parrot appears in a 15c Sri Lanka
n postal stamp,
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...
which is a resident endemic
Endemic (ecology)
Endemism is the ecological state of being unique to a defined geographic location, such as an island, nation or other defined zone, or habitat type; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsewhere. For example, all species of lemur are endemic to the...
breeder in Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka is a country off the southern coast of the Indian subcontinent. Known until 1972 as Ceylon , Sri Lanka is an island surrounded by the Indian Ocean, the Gulf of Mannar and the Palk Strait, and lies in the vicinity of India and the...
.
Description
The Sri Lanka Hanging Parrot is a small, mainly green hanging parrotHanging parrot
The hanging parrots are birds in the parrot genus Loriculus . This is a group of small parrots from tropical southern Asia.These little parrots, about 13 cm long, are mostly green plumaged and short-tailed. Often head coloring helps to identify individual species...
, only 13 cm long with a short tail. The adult has a red crown and rump. The nape and back have on orange tint. The chin and throat are pale blue. The beak is red and the irises are white.
Immature birds lack the orange hue to the back, have a duller rump, and have only a hint of orange on the crown. They have a feint blue throat. They have orange beaks and brown irises.
Behaviour
Sri Lanka Hanging Parrot is less gregarious than some of its relatives, and is usually alone or in small groups outside the breeding season. Its flight is swift and direct, and the call is a sharp whistled twiwittwit..twitwitwit. It undergoes local movements, driven mainly by the availability of the fruit, seeds, buds and blossoms that make up its diet.Sri Lanka Hanging Parrot is a bird of open forest. It is strictly arboreal, never descending to the ground. It nests in holes in trees, laying 2–3 eggs.
In culture
In Sri LankaSri Lanka
Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka is a country off the southern coast of the Indian subcontinent. Known until 1972 as Ceylon , Sri Lanka is an island surrounded by the Indian Ocean, the Gulf of Mannar and the Palk Strait, and lies in the vicinity of India and the...
, this bird is known as Gira Maliththa or Pol Girwa in Sinhala Language. Hanging Parrot appears in a 15c Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka is a country off the southern coast of the Indian subcontinent. Known until 1972 as Ceylon , Sri Lanka is an island surrounded by the Indian Ocean, the Gulf of Mannar and the Palk Strait, and lies in the vicinity of India and the...
n postal stamp,