H.J. Ruiz – Avian101

Red-masked Parakeet – Latin name: Aratinga erythrogenys

This  is a medium-sized parrot from Ecuador and Peru. It is popular as a pet—known in aviculture as the Cherry-headed Conure or the Red-headed Conure—and considered the best talked of the conures.

Red-masked Parakeets average about 33 cm (13 in) long, of which half is the tail. They are bright green with a mostly red head on which the elongated pale eye-ring is conspicuous; the nape is green. Also, the lesser and median underwing coverts are red, and there is some red on the neck, the thighs, and the leading edge of the wings. Juveniles have green plumage, until their first red feathers appear at around the age of four months.

Red-masked Parakeet

Its call is two-syllabled, harsh and loud.

Clutches average 3 to 4 eggs and incubation is 23 or 24 days. Nests are usually made in tree cavities. Juvenile birds fledge after 50 days with green plumage.

These birds are native to southwestern Ecuador and northwestern Peru, where they inhabit forest edges and partially cleared areas.

It has been the tenth most common Neotropical parrot imported into the USA with over 26,000 parakeets checked in from 1981 to 1985. This bird was formerly more common in its limited range, and only fairly recently has been reclassified from a species of least concern to a species near threatened (1994).

NOTE: The Red-masked Parakeet is a new addition to my Bird List as: #185

Text © Wikipedia – All photographs © H.J. Ruiz – Avian 101