Yellow-fronted Parrot | |
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Adult (above) and juvenile (below) on an island in Lake Tana, Ethiopia | |
Conservation status | |
Scientific classification | |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Aves |
Order: | Psittaciformes |
Family: | Psittacidae |
Tribe: | Psittacini |
Genus: | Poicephalus |
Species: | P. flavifrons |
Binomial name | |
Poicephalus flavifrons (Rüppell, 1845) |
The Yellow-fronted Parrot (Poicephalus flavifrons) is endemic to the Ethiopian Highlands.[1] It is a mostly green parrot with a yellow head. Relatively little is known about this bird.
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German naturalist Eduard Rüppell first described the Yellow-fronted Parrot in 1845. Its species name is derived from the Latin words flavus "yellow", and frons "forehead".[2] It is also known as the Yellow-faced Parrot. Most recent authorities treat it as monotypic,[3][4][5] but some recognized two slightly different subspecies, P. f. flavifrons and P. f. aurantiiceps.[6]
The Yellow-fronted Parrot is about 28 centimetres (11 in) long and is mostly green with the upper parts being a darker green, the tail being olive-brown, and the legs a dark grey-brown. The face is orange-yellow. When two subspecies are recognized, the nominate is believed to have yellow to its head and face, while in P. f. suahelicus some of the yellow is replaced with orange.[6] The upper beak is brownish-grey and the lower beak is bone coloured, the irises are orange-red, and bare eye-rings and cere are grey. Male and female adults have identical external appearance. Juveniles are duller than the adults with a mostly grey head, brown irises, and only a small amount of yellow on the front of the face including on the forehead.[6]
This parrot is endemic to the Ethiopian Highlands at about 1,000–3,000 metres (3,300–9,800 ft) above sea level.[6] When two subspecies are recognized, the nominate is found in the highlands around Lake Tana and also in central Ethiopia, and P. f. suahelicus is found in southwestern Ethiopia.[6] It lives in forest habitats, unlike most other Poicephalus parrots apart from the Cape and Red-fronted Parrot superspecies complex.[7]
The Yellow-fronted Parrot is unknown in aviculture.[8]
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