That Bird Blog – Bird Care and History for Pet Birds

Australia and many nearby South Pacific islands are well known for mammalian oddities such as the Platypus, Tree Kangaroo and Echidna.  But Psittacine enthusiasts have much to look for here as well, as the region is also home to some of the world’s most unusual and little-studied parrots.  Today I’ll cover a few of the more striking of these – the Pygmy Parrots, Rock Parrot and Green Rosella.

Pygmy Parrots, Micropsitta spp.

Sufficiently unique to have been classified into their own subfamily, the 6-8 species of Pygmy Parrot are found on New Guinea and several nearby islands.  They truly live up to their name…the largest barely tops 4 inches in length while the smallest, the Buff Faced Pygmy Parrot (M. pusio), is a mere 3 inches long and weighs but 0.41 ounces!  Read More »