SuperParrot Blog October 2024
Because Halloween is in October, I thought I should meet a bird known as the ‘Dracula Parrot’!
The Pesquet’s Parrot (also known as the Vulturine Parrot) has the body of a parrot and the head shape of a vulture! You can see from the picture that it has a sharp beak, black head and vibrant, bright red body feathers!
Despite having the nickname ‘Dracula Parrot’, this parrot loves fruit! Unusually for a parrot, it does not have feathers on its face which could be a result of evolution – feathers on the face might become matted and sticky with fruit pulp which would be icky!
Pesquet’s come from New Guinea which is in the continent of Oceania. They move around in the wild (this is called being nomadic) to find the freshest, ripest, tastiest fruit! They especially love figs! We have two pairs of Pesquet’s at Paradise Park. CB and Natsu are one pair and Loki and Koki are the other. They eat lots of different fruit and nectar liquidised into a delicious smoothie full of vitamins to keep them healthy and strong! They told me their favourite is a banana smoothie! Mmm…delicious!
Sadly, Pesquet’s are threatened in the wild by hunting for their feathers, which are used for ceremonial dress, as well as hunted for meat and caught for people who would like to keep them as pets. They live in hill and mountain forests, so deforestation (cutting down trees) is also having an impact on the wild population. They live in groups of up to 20 birds in the wild and they have a distinctive, growling, raspy call – they also have an eerie scream when they are flying (no wonder they have the nickname Dracula Parrot!!!)
If you want to meet our Pesquet’s, Loki and Koki can be found near The Tropics walk-through and CB and Natsu live in the Hodge Aviary near the penguin pool.
Come say hi this Halloween!
Until next time,
SuperParrot Xx
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