Black-capped Parakeet

The Black-capped Parakeet or Rock Parakeet (Pyrrhura rupicola), also known as the Black-capped Conure or Rock Conure in aviculture, is a parrot native to the south-western Amazon Basin and adjacent east Andean slopes in Peru, Bolivia and Brazil. It has a total length of approximately 25 cm, is mostly green with a dark brown-black cap, whitish scaly neck and breast, red wing coverts (upper, not lower - along leading edge) and a black beak. The breast feathers are dark with light tips, rather than the opposite.

It lives in humid forests, ranging from the Amazonian lowlands up to an altitude of 2000 m. on the East Andean slopes. While its habitat is being disturbed, parts of its range are within protected areas (e.g., in Manú National Park), and it remains widespread and locally fairly common. Flock size 20-30, smaller in breeding season.

Subspecies

There may be two subspecies. If so, they would be:

• P. r. rupicola: Central Peru.
• P. r. sandiae: South-eastern Peru, northern Bolivia and south-western Brazil. Narrower pale edges on breast and neck feathers, absent on hind neck. Often called the Sandia Conure in aviculture.

In the past, some speculated that it might be conspecific with the Green-cheeked Conure. This was based on an apparent Black-capped–Green-cheeked hybrid found in Puno, Peru, though the identification of this individual (or at least its provenance) must be considered questionable, as beyond the range of the Green-cheeked Conure, which has never been recorded in Peru.

References

• Juniper, Tony, and Mike Parr; illustrated by Kim Franklin. 1998. Parrots: A Guide to Parrots of the World. Yale University Press. ISBN 0-300-07453-0.
• Schulenberg, T., D. Stotz, D. Lane, J. O'Neill, & T. Parker III. 2007. Birds of Peru. Christopher Helm Publishers. ISBN 978-0-7136-8673-9