Antipodes Island Parakeet
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Antipodes Island Parakeet | ||||||||||||||||||
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A parakeet in Wellington Zoo's breeding program
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Cyanoramphus unicolor (Lear, 1831) |
The Antipodes Island Parakeet (Cyanoramphus unicolor) is endemic to the Antipodes Islands, one of two parrot species found on the islands. It is the largest species in the genus Cyanoramphus. The parakeets eat leaves, buds, grass, and tussock stalks, as well as sometimes feeding on seeds, flowers, and will scavenge dead seabirds. The Antipodes Island Parakeet also preys on Grey-backed Storm-petrels. It will enter burrows to kill incubating adults, even dig at the entrance if it is too small.
[edit] References
- Greene, T. (1999) "Aspects of the ecology of Antipodes Island Parakeet ( Cyanoramphus unicolor) and Reischek's Parakeet ( C. novaezelandiae hochstetten) on Antipodes Island, October - November 1995" Notornis 46: 301-310 [1]
- ^ BirdLife International (2004). Cyanoramphus unicolor. 2006 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. IUCN 2006. Retrieved on 11 May 2006. Database entry includes a brief justification of why this species is vulnerable and the criteria used.