Cardinal Lory

Cardinal Lory
At Busch Gardens, Tampa Bay, USA
Conservation status
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Psittaciformes
Family: Psittacidae
Tribe: Lorini
Genus: Chalcopsitta
Species: C. cardinalis
Binomial name
Chalcopsitta cardinalis
(Gray, 1849)

The Cardinal Lory (Chalcopsitta cardinalis) is a monotypic species of parrot in the Psittacidae family. The Cardinal Lory lives mainly in the mangrove and the lowland forests of the Solomon Islands and east Papua New Guinea.

Because it is of the Syzygium species it preferes fruit-bearing trees that have red blossoms.

Contents

Description

The Cardinal Lory is 31 cm (12 in) long. All plumage is red. The beak is orange with black at its base. The bare skin at base of beak and around eyes is black, and the irises are orange-red. Its legs are grey. The male and female are identical in external appearance. The beaks of the juveniles are dull orange with more prominent black areas than the adults, pale grey eye-rings, and yellow irises.[1]

Aviculture

In 1989 the Solomon Island permitted few Cardinal Lories to be exported to the USA. However, because of the Wild Bird Conservation Act in 1992 the exportion of Cardinal Lories from the Solomon Islands to the USA was banned except for approved breeding.

References

  1. ^ Forshaw (2006). plate 7.

Cited texts