Name: Eclectus Parrot Scientific name: Eclectus roratus Conservation status: Least Concern Info: The Eclectus Parrot is a stocky short-tailed parrot, and it measures around 35 cm in length. The male is mostly bright green with a yellow-tinge on the head. It has blue primaries, and red flanks and underwing coverts. Its tail is edged with a narrow band of creamy yellow, and is dark grey edged with creamy yellow underneath, and the tail feathers are green centrally and more blue as they get towards the edges. The female is mostly bright red with a darker hue on the back and wings. The mantle and underwing coverts darken to a more purple in colour, and the wing is edged with a mauve-blue. The tail is edged with yellowish-orange above, and is more orange tipped with yellow underneath. The upper mandible of the adult male is orange at the base fading to a yellow towards the tip, and the lower mandible is black. The beak of the adult female is all black. Adults have yellow to orange irises and juveniles have dark brown to black irises. The upper mandible of both male and female juveniles are brown at the base fading to yellow towards the biting edges and the tip. The diet of the bird in the wild consists of mainly fruits, wild figs, unripe nuts, flower and leaf buds, and some seeds. In captivity, they will eat most fruits including mangoes, figs, guavas, bananas, melons, stone fruits, grapes, citrus fruits, pears, apples, pomegranate and papaya. Eclectus Parrots are one of the more popular birds kept in captivity, as either parent or hand reared. Unlike many other species of parrot they are relatively easy to breed yet difficult to hand feed. Eclectus in captivity require vegetables high in beta-carotene, such as lightly cooked sweet potato, fresh broccoli clumps, and fresh corn on the cob. Fresh greens such as endive or commercial dandelion are very important in providing calcium and other nutrients. As with all pet birds, they should not be fed avocado, chocolate, or high fat junk foods such as French fries or commercially processed human foods such as pizza. Parrots are unable to digest the lactose in milk. Spray millet is one of the seed items they enjoy, though the parrot's diet should typically contain much less seed than other birds. There are seven subspecies: -Eclectus roratus roratus -Eclectus roratus vosmaeri -Eclectus roratus cornelia -Eclectus roratus riedeli -Eclectus roratus polychloros -Eclectus roratus macgillivrayi -Eclectus roratus solomonensis
