Fun Trivia » Animals » Specific Bird Species » Parrots

There are approximately 398 known species of Psittacopasserae. They are split into three main families: the Psittacopasserae (true parrots), Cacatuoidea (cockatoos) and Strigopoidea (New Zealand parrots; kea, kaka and kakapo). Difficulty: Hard.

 

50, 750, 1250

The Kakapo can only be found in the island nation of New Zealand. It is one of the oldest species of birds found on the planet and has remained virtually unchanged for millions of years, according to the fossil records found on the islands. It has a loud echoing mating call that can be heard miles or kilometers away. At night the call of the Kakapo is distinct and haunting. Difficulty: Easy.

 

Peru, Egypt, Greenland

Budgies, which is how we usually refer to them here, are brightly coloured, seed eating little birds with long tails. Referred to as parakeets in other countries, the budgie is also called a lovebird by some because of its tactile behaviour of gently pecking and preening other birds. It has existed in this country for some five million years, was first described by British zoologist and botanist, George Shaw, in 1805, and given its name in 1840 by British ornithologist John Gould. Well, first described and named for the benefit for the rest of the world, that is. Indigenous Australians have been familiar with the budgie for the past 40,000 years. Difficulty: Easy.

 

Antarctica, Siberia, West Ireland

Macaws are native to the forests in Mexico, South America, and Central America. Difficulty: Average.

 

Indonesia, Kenya, Australia

Cockatoos are found in the wild in only a limited area of the world. They are found primarily in Australia, New Guinea, Indonesia, as well as surrounding areas in the South Pacific. Difficulty: Hard.

 

Brazil, Peru, Senegal

Despite what "Monty Python's Flying Circus" would have you believe, there is no such genus of parrot as the Norwegian Blue. Many species of parrot are native to Central and South America, especially Amazons and Macaws. Smaller parrots, such as lorikeets, are common to Southeast Asia, including Indonesia. Parrots found in Cameroon include the Gray parrot, Meyer's parrot and Niam-Niam parrot. Difficulty: Easy.

 

Brazil, Indonesia, Cameroon

While they are babies however, or moody teenagers, the young budgie has two dark coloured stripes which descend down to the top of its beak. It retains these until reaching adulthood. This occurs when the bird is between three to four months old. The body of the natural budgie is usually light green with black markings, the feathers are yellow and black, wings are green, black and yellow, and the tail is dark blue. Difficulty: Average.

 

Purple spots, Red ticks, Achromatic

The upper beak is called the maxilla, while the lower beak is referred to as the mandible. Parrots' beaks are very strong and sharp. In addition, eating and biting annoying creatures (people) aren't the only things their beaks are good for. Parrots are known to use their beak to pull themselves upward from perch to perch.

The large flight feathers are called remiges (the plural form of "remex"). Many parrot owners who attempt to clip their parrots' wings on their own end up cutting the blood feathers. Blood feathers are new feathers that will bleed when clipped.

Collectively, tail feathers are called rectrices (singular: rectrix). Difficulty: Hard.

 

The lower beak, A large flight feather, A tail feather

Although hyacinth macaws are the largest, they are also one of the more gentle macaw species. However, they are an endangered species and take lots of time and attention when kept as pets. Difficulty: Hard.

 

Blue and gold macaw, Scarlet macaw, Jamaican red macaw

A zygodactyl foot means that the bird has two toes forward and two toes backward. This allows them to grip branches athletically as well as manipulate their food with their feet. While they can easily stand on one foot, so can other birds with non-zygodactyl feet. Difficulty: Hard.

 

They have three toes forward and one toe backward., They have opposable thumbs., They can easily stand on one foot.

Little Corellas are nearly impossible to sex visually. DNA testing is recommended.

Gang-gangs are dimorphic (can be sexed visually). Among other obvious differences, the male has a red head and the female doesn't.

Sometimes Goffins can be sexed based on eye color. The males often have dark brown eyes and the females often have light brown eyes. Sound ambiguous? It is. DNA testing is recommended. Difficulty: Hard.

 

Little Corella, Gang-gang, Goffin's

One of the prettiest macaws, the scarlet often visits clay banks in the wild. A flock of these beauties must be an incredible sight to see! Difficulty: Hard.

 

Solid red, Mostly green with a brilliant red head, Light blue body with red wings and head

Most species of parrots are vegetarians, living off seeds, nuts, fruit and other types of plants. The bills of parrots have specifically evolved to be especially strong to crack open the shells of nuts, to get to the food inside. Some New Zealand parrots have been known to attack animals and other birds, as well as burrow for grubs. Difficulty: Very Easy.

 

small animals, other birds, insects like grubs

The cere is a soft swelling found just above the beak of certain birds, such as hawks, parrots and budgerigars. I didn't know that birds actually had nostrils, so that was interesting to learn. With the budgie, the cere is a different colour depending on the sex of the bird. When adult females aren't breeding, their ceres are naturally pale brown or white, but during breeding and child-rearing, it changes to a dark brown shade. The adult male bird usually has a royal blue cere, and young birds of both sexes have pink ceres. It is therefore easy to tell the sex of a budgerigar by the colour of its cere. Difficulty: Easy.

 

The section where the egg pops out, The tip of their fingers, Its wisdom teeth

Hyacinth macaws are, with the exception of the rings around their eyes, a stunning shade of indigo. Their eye rings are brilliant yellow and their beaks are black. Difficulty: Hard.

 

Indigo, Red, White

This Brazilian native is now believed to be extinct in the wild, with only about 60 birds alive in captivity. It is a beautiful blue macaw, and only through captive breeding and possible reintroduction can this species be saved.

Editor update in 2023 - the bird was officially declared extinct in the wild in 2000, but efforts are ongoing to reintroduce it using captive bred birds. Difficulty: Hard.

 

It has the largest vocabulary for a macaw., It is the only macaw native to North America., It is a popular pet because of its gentle disposition.

The vent is the opening for excrement. I made up the term blassimo. Difficulty: Easy.

 

Tiara, Vent, Blassimo

Due to their ability to "speak", parrots are highly sought after as pets and are subject to more exploitation than any other type of birds. About 50 million parrots (roughly half) live in captivity, the vast majority as pets.

Humans have kept parrots as pets for at least two millennia, as Roman historian Pliny the Elder notes humans owning parrots. Difficulty: Hard.

 

85 percent, 5 percent, 25 percent

The male budgie is described as a cheerful extrovert, sociable, flirtatious and loud. A true Australian male, to be sure. The female, on the other hand, is said to be highly dominant and intolerant. Oh, how dare they make such an inherent criticism of her! How else is she supposed to control the behaviour of her mate? The head shape of the two is also different, with the male's head rounder than the female's head. Her head is slightly flattened at the back. That's quite possibly the result of bashing it against a brick wall over her noisy mate's flirtatious antics. Difficulty: Easy.

 

By their clothing, By their hairstyles, By the way they drive their cars

Blue and gold macaws are mostly blue with a yellow chest; Catalina macaws are mostly blue and green with an orange chest. They're about the same size. The Catalina macaw is actually a hybrid of the blue and gold macaw and the scarlet macaw.

Make no mistake about it, all macaws can bite VERY hard. A pretty good rule of thumb is to avoid parrot bites altogether. Difficulty: Hard.

 

The Catalina macaw is bigger, The blue and gold macaw doesn't bite very hard, There is no difference

Blue and gold macaws are popular because of their intelligence and beauty. They often are good talkers, although (as in all parrots) some members of the species never talk at all. They can bite hard and love to chew up anything they can get their beaks on. They can also be extremely noisy. Because they live so long, prospective pet owners should do lots of research before entering into the long term commitment of owning one of these rewarding yet demanding pets. Difficulty: Hard.

 

They don't bite as hard as other parrots., They don't chew destructively like other parrots., All of these

Moluccan cockatoos are also known as the salmon-crested cockatoo. They are usually a pinkish white or salmon color with pale yellow feathers under the wing. Peaches is a popular name for Moluccans! Difficulty: Hard.

 

Black, Pure white, Pale yellow

The Hyacinth macaw can be as tall as one meter (39 inches). The Anodorhynchus hyacinthinus is bright blue, with yellow markings around its eyes and face. The macaw has enormous, 39 to 42 centimeter, wings. The Hyacinth is found largely in the Amazon River basin of Brazil, and has adapted so that its strong jaws can crack coconuts and brazil nuts. Hyacinth macaws were extremely popular in the bird trade in the 1980s, and their population in the wild has dramatically diminished, so you should try a different species as a pet.

While the palm cockatoo is the largest of the cockatoo species, they average 55-60 centimeters in length. The Electus parrot is native to Oceania and averages 35 centimeters in length. The glossy black cockatoo, which is native to eastern Australia, averages 46 to 50 centimeters in length.
Difficulty: Easy.

 

Palm cockatoo, Electus parrot, Glossy black cockatoo

The Kakapo is a lovely moss green with sprinkles of black and brown spots throughout. Unlike many birds who use color to draw attention to themselves for mating purposes, the Kakapo uses its color for camouflage. The Kakapo can be very hard to see, until it moves. For millions of years this defense worked well, and the species thrived on its island home. Older stuffed specimens hint that the bird many have at one time had shades of yellow. Difficulty: Average.

 

White, Red, Purple

They do this by flattening their feathers as close to their little bodies as possible, thereby shrinking their normally perceived size - less satisfying mouthfuls, no doubt. They will also try to climb as high as possible if they cannot fly away, right up into the top corners of their cages, and cling there, trembling with fear. Difficulty: Hard.

 

Faint, Scream, Become very aggressive and attack

Cockatoos, along with African Greys (etc.), produce copious amounts of feather dust. Comparatively, macaws aren't very dusty at all. Just as some people are allergic to cats, some people are allergic to feather dust.

All parrots are messy eaters. They drop food by accident and on purpose. They throw food for fun and some parrots will even throw food at people they dislike (they pick up on the squeals of displeasure emitted by their chosen targets).

Most parrots love to bathe. Cockatoos, for example, are native to the wetter areas of Australia and tend to enjoy showering (if no warm rain is available). Many parrots, macaws included, like to bathe in pools or tubs. The water helps the parrots keep their feathers shiny and beautiful.

Parrots like to wreck stuff. Period. That's how most parrots play with the toys we give to them: They tear them to pieces. Of course there are a few exceptions, but the average parrot (cockatoo, macaw, or otherwise) will shred paper, pulverize fabric and gnaw on wood. They do this to stave off boredom, so parrot owners are advised to provide toys for their birds to destroy. The larger macaws actually have stronger beaks than cockatoos do, so they can do a bit more damage. Difficulty: Hard.

 

Macaws, unlike cockatoos, love to bathe, Cockatoos tend to be the messiest eaters, Macaws don't destroy furniture very often

Catalina macaws are not found naturally in the wild, but are due to domestic breeding of a blue and gold macaw and a scarlet macaw. Many people believe that this type of hybridization should be discouraged because of the threatened nature of macaws in the wild. Difficulty: Hard.

 

A now extinct macaw that was native to an island off the coast of California, A dark blue macaw native to Australia, The largest macaw native to Brazil

The scientific name of the umbrella cockatoo is Cacatua alba. Cacatuidae is the family name and Psittaciformes is the order rather than the genus. Probosciger is the genus of the palm cockatoo. Difficulty: Hard.

 

Cacatuidae, Probosciger, Psittaciformes

As there were no predators, there was no need to develop defense techniques. The Kakapo does not run from humans, rats or cats, as it was never hunted. They are non-venomous and are not known to bite. The Kakapo simply freezes and does not move. In the past, this made them sitting targets for the newly introduced species, including man, who combined to hunt them to near extinction. Difficulty: Hard.

 

Uses its sharp talons, It sprays venom from its mouth, Biting with a razor sharp beak

Goffin's cockatoos are native to the Tanimbar Islands of Indonesia. They're seriously endangered in the wild, mainly due to the destruction of their natural habitat and the proliferation of poachers. Goffin's cockatoos are CITES (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species) Appendix 1 listed. Difficulty: Hard.

 

Brazil, Zaire, Mexico

Known as a mini-macaw, the severe macaw is only about 18 inches long, as compared with the blue and gold macaw that can be twice that length. This little macaw has all the personality of his larger cousins in a pint-sized package. Their wingspan is only about nine inches. Difficulty: Hard.

 

The severe macaw is solid orange in coloration., Unlike the blue and gold, the severe macaw has been known to hunt and eat rabbits., There is no difference. Severe macaw is another term for the blue and gold macaw.

CITES is an international agreement for endangered species. Five cockatoo species, including the Goffin's cockatoo, palm cockatoo, red-vented cockatoo, lesser sulphur-crested cockatoo, and the Moluccan cockatoo, are listed in Appendix I, which means they are threatened with extinction. All other cockatoo species are listed in Appendix II, which means that trade must be controlled to prevent their survival from being threatened. Difficulty: Hard.

 

Cockatoo Industry Trade and Exposition Seminars, Creatures of the International Tropical Environment Species, Cockatoos of India and Tunesia Environmental Studies

Zygodactyl means "two toes forward and two pointing back." Their zygodactyl toes allow parrots to hold on firmly to branches.

Artiodactyl refers to creatures with an even number of toes, such as hippos, giraffes and cows. Zygomorphic is a term from botany referring to plants with bilateral symmetry. A pterodactyl was a dinosaur from the Jurassic and Cretaceous periods, the forerunner of modern birds.
Difficulty: Average.

 

artiodactyl, zygomorphic, pterodactyl

This illness is an inflamation within the lungs which is caused by an oversensitivity to bird droppings. People such as pet store owners, breeders or hobbyists, who work with large numbers of birds, are most at risk. It is also called bird breeders lung, or pigeon breeders lung. Symptoms include chills, fever, cough and an uncomfortable sensation in the chest. For the very unlucky, hypersensitive few, these symptoms can also include anorexia, fibrosis - and even, in very rare cases, death. Squawk, that's alarming! Difficulty: Hard.

 

Tuberculosis, Asthma, Bird cough syndrome

The crop is the sac in the lower end of the neck. It's used for storing undigested food, so it's a bit larger after the bird has eaten. Many new parrot owners are alarmed when they notice the crop for the first time; it can look suspiciously like a tumor. Difficulty: Hard.

 

The digestive sac, The maxilla, There is no bulge anywhere on the neck

Like many parrot species, macaws must be DNA sexed to tell the males from the females. They are monomorphic birds, meaning that the sexes appear the same. Difficulty: Hard.

 

Male macaws have brighter plumage., Female macaws have a dark ring of feathers around the neck., All of these

The powder down feathers that cockatoos possess makes many allergic people unable to be around these birds. The powder down is used in preening, helps the birds shed water easily, and gives their feathers a silky feel. Anyone who owns a cockatoo has had the experience of having white powder all over their clothing! Difficulty: Hard.

 

Cockatoo feathers are genetically similar to cat fur., Cockatoos are likely to be infested with feather mites., Cockatoos make excess oil/sebum for their feathers.

After the first egg emerges, the little female usually waits two days until she lays the next and then lays them on alternate days after that until her batch is complete. Perhaps the first one is a shock to her system? She then incubates the eggs for about twenty-one days. The babies also hatch out on alternate days. Once she begins incubating, she very seldom leaves the nest, and totally relies on her mate to feed her. That's so sweet. He stops flirting long enough to tend to his little family. Some females will fight over a nest box if breeding in captivity, so if planning to breed several females, always make sure there are the equivalent number of nest boxes in the cage. Finding a suitable male for a female can also present a problem, as some male budgerigars are simply not interested in females. Oh dear. The poor little female can still lay eggs without him, but alas, these are unfertilised and will never hatch, so she sits there all day long, day after day, breaking her little budgie heart, a feathered Rachel weeping for her children. Difficulty: Hard.

 

She sings the entire time she's laying, The eggs have to face the sun - sunny side up, She has to be induced

Like all parrots, hyacinth macaws have zygodactyl toes. They have black beaks and they are found only in Brazil. Because of their beauty and intelligence, hyacinth macaws are in high demand. Their habitat, the Amazon Jungle, is slowly disappearing and poachers have almost decimated the species. There are an estimated 3000 hyacinth macaws still flying free. Difficulty: Hard.

 

It only has three toes, It has a blue beak, It's the only large parrot found in Australia

Macaws mate for life and use the same nesting area year after year. Deforestation can be devastating to macaws, as they find it hard to find acceptable nesting areas. Difficulty: Average.

 

Until the young have fledged, Only during courtship, Until the eggs have hatched