There are lots of different types of parrots out there, most of them are found in tropical and subtropical surroundings.
There are 3 different families of parrots: the Psittacoidea, which are known as true parrots.
Cacatuoidea, which are cockatoos and Strigopoidea, which are New Zealand parrots.
Parrots are members of the order Psittaciformes, which includes more than 350 bird species, including parakeets, macaws, cockatiels and cockatoos, according to the Integrated Taxonomic Information System (ITIS). Though there are many types of parrots, all parrot species have a few traits in common. For example, to be classified as a parrot, the bird must have a curved beak, and its feet must be zygodactyl, which means there are four toes on each foot with two toes that point forward and two that point backward.
Size
Because the parrot order includes so many different species, parrot sizes vary widely. Parrots can range in size from about 3.5 to 40 inches (8.7 to 100 centimeters) and weigh 2.25 to 56 ounces (64 g to 1.6 kg), on average. The world's heaviest type of parrot is the kakapo, which can weigh up to 9 lbs. (4 kg). The smallest parrot is the buff-faced pygmy parrot, which is only about 3 inches (8 cm) tall and weighs just 0.4 ounces (10 g).
Habitat
Most wild parrots live in the warm areas of the Southern Hemisphere, though they can be found in many other regions of the world, such as northern Mexico. Australia, South America and Central America have the greatest diversity of parrot species.
Diet
Parrots are omnivores, which means that they can eat both meat and vegetation. Most parrots eat a diet that contains nuts, flowers, fruit, buds, seeds and insects. Seeds are their favorite food. They have strong jaws that allow them to snap open nutshells to get to the seed that's inside.
Keas use their longer beaks to dig insects out of the ground for a meal, and kakapos chew on vegetation and drink the juices.
Offspring
Parrots are like most other birds and lay eggs in a nest. Some species, though, lay their eggs in tree holes,ground tunnels, rock cavities and termite mounds. Parrots typically lay two to eight eggs at one time. A parrot's egg needs 18 to 30 days of incubation before it can hatch, so the parents take turns sitting on the eggs.
A parrot chick is born with only a thin layer of thin, wispy feathers called down. Parrot chicks are blind for the first two weeks of their lives. At three weeks, they start to grow their adult feathers. The chick will not be fully matured for one to four years, depending on its species.
Classification/taxonomy
According to the Integrated Taxonomic Information System (ITIS), the taxonomy of parrots is:
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Psittaciformes
Family: Psittacidae
Genera and species: More than 60 genera and more than 350 species. Species that are popular as pets include Ara macao (scarlet macaw), Aratinga holochlora (green parakeet), Myiopsitta monachus (monk parakeet), Poicephalus senegalus (Senegal parrot), Nymphicus hollandicus (cockatiel) and Cacatua alba (white cockatoo).
Conservation status
Many species of parrots are endangered. The kakapo (Strigops habroptila) is a critically endangered parrot, according to the Kakapo Recovery Organization. There are fewer than 150 left. The there are only 50 orange-bellied parrots (Neophema chrysogaster), found in Australia, making it one of the most endangered parrots in the world.
The yellow-headed Amazon (Amazona oratrix) is another endangered parrot, though there are more of them than kakapos or orange-bellied parrots. According to International Union for Conservation of Nature, there are 7,000 yellow-headed Amazons left in the wild.
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