Our 2013 Birdorable Bonanza rolls on with the addition of a new parakeet species! Today's Bonanza bird is the Blossom-headed Parakeet.

Bonanza-2013-Blossom-headed-Parakeet

The Blossom-headed Parakeet is a beautiful species of parrot found in India and parts of Southeast Asia. These gregarious birds prefer a forested habitat. Groups roost communally and feed together; they nest in tree cavities.

blossom-headed-parakeet
La Perruche à collier noir by François Levaillant (public domain)

Blossom-headed Parakeets are closely related to the similar-looking Plum-headed Parakeet. Male Blossom-headed Parakeets have a pinkish head; females heads are a dull blue-grey color. Blossoms are part of the diet of these birds - they are what they eat!

blossom headed parakeet

Tomorrow we'll add an African bird of prey. What do you think of this silhouette? bonanza-2013-preview-10

Today a beautiful parrot from Australia joins Birdorable: the Eastern Rosella!

Eastern Rosella

Eastern Rosellas are colorful parrots that live in southeastern parts of Australia, including Tasmania. Their beautiful plumage is a mix of red, yellow, blue, green, orange, black, and white. In their native range, they sometimes visit back yard feeding stations.

eastern rosella
eastern rosella by jeaniephelan

These colorful birds are cavity nesters. They nest in tree hollows, but will also use nest boxes, as you can see in this cute video. An adult tends to a juvenile in the box.


Eastern Rosella Family by JayEL58 on
Eastern Rosella

Tomorrow's species is a bird of prey known for its wide gape. Can you guess what it will be?

Birdorable Bonanza Preview
Birdorable Carolina Parakeet

Today’s bird is the 19th and final species in this year's Birdorable Bonanza! It is also our 350th Birdorable bird - introducing the Birdorable Carolina Parakeet!

The Carolina Parakeet was a colorful species of parrot native to the southeastern United States that is now unfortunately extinct. The last captive bird died in 1918, with the last wild birds dying out around that time or earlier. The Carolina Parakeet was a beautiful bird, with a green-blue body and warmer reds, oranges and yellows around the face. They used their powerful beaks to feed on seeds and fruit pits.

Photo by Tim Krepp (CC BY 2.0)

Cute Carolina Parakeet Gifts

Birdorable Chattering Lory

For 18 days we're adding a new Birdorable bird every day as part of our Birdorable Bonanza 2010. Today's bird is the Chattering Lory. The Chattering Lory is a beautiful species of parrot native to parts of Indonesia. They have gorgeous bright red heads and bodies, with green wings and orange beaks.

Chattering Lory (Lorikeet): Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Chattering Lory by dbillian

Tomorrow's bird is a beautiful North American duck. Can you guess what it is?

Birdorable Palm Cockatoo

For 18 days we're adding a new Birdorable bird every day as part of our Birdorable Bonanza 2010. Today's bird is the Palm Cockatoo! Palm Cockatoos are very distinctive-looking parrots. They are slate-grey in color, with a featherless, bright red cheek. Their bills are extremely large, and they sport a long, scraggly grey head crest. Because of their rare beauty, Palm Cockatoos are very popular in aviculture. Despite their relatively small native range in Australia, the wild population is stable and not considered threatened.

Palm Cockatoo
Palm Cockatoo by P. Stubbs

Tomorrow's bird is a very common bird across North America. You can find them almost anywhere. Can you guess what it is?

This week's featured t-shirt is this New Zealand Save the Kakapo design. Birdorable is proud to support Kakapo conservation: 30% of the retail price of every Birdorable Kakapo product sale will be donated to the Kakapo Recovery Programme in New Zealand. For more information see our Save the Kakapo page.

Birdorable New Zealand Kakapo T-Shirt
Cute Birdorable Galah

Today's 189th Birdorable is this Birdorable Galah, also known as the Rose-breasted Cockatoo or Pink and Grey. It is a widespread parrot in Australia, where it can be commonly seen in the bush as well as urban areas such as Perth and Melbourne. Wow, I can't imagine having such colorful birds visit our backyard feeders.

Galah
Photo by scuze (Source: Flickr)

Until the 31st of July we'll be adding a new bird every day as part of our Birdorable Bonanza until we reach #200 at the end of this month. Here's a preview of tomorrow's bird:

Preview of Birdorable 190

Today we've added five new parrots to Birdorable: the White-crowned Parrot, Blue-fronted Amazon, Spix's Macaw, Alexandrine Parakeet and Peach-fronted Parakeet.

Five new Birdorable Parrots

We continue to get a lot of new bird requests for parrots and parakeets, especially since our site was featured in the August edition of Bird Talk magazine. Of the 125 different species of birds on Birdorable today, 32 are parrots and parakeets. One of the rarest and most critically endangered parrots in the world is the Spix's Macaw. It is believed to be extinct in the wild! :( The species was feared to be extinct in the early 1980's, until it was rediscovered in 1985 when just 5 birds were located in the north of Bahia, Brazil. Sadly, by 1988 it appeared the last 5 birds had been removed by trappers. In 1990, an exhaustive survey in the area resulted in the discovered of a single wild survivor! The Brazilian Authorities located a wild caught female Spix's Macaw at a private breeding facility. In 1995 the female was released in the wild to join the last remaining one, but unfortunately shortly after she was found dead. The one remaining bird was last seen on October 5th, 2000 and is thought to have died of natural causes as he was in excess of 20 years old. Currently there are approximately 120 individual Spix's Macaws in captivity around the world. 78 of these are participating in an international breeding program managed by the Institute Chico Mendes of Biodiversity Conservation, the Natural Heritage Branch of the Brazilian Government. 50 of these are managed at Al Wabra Wildlife Preservation in the State of Qatar. Show your support for this beautiful bird with this Birdorable Save the Spix's Macaw t-shirt:

Save the Spix's Macaw White T-Shirt