Extreme Sexual Dimorphism in Eclectus Parrots

Birdorable Male and Female Eclectus Parrots

At first glance you may think that there are two different species of parrot in the above picture, but these are actually two Eclectus Parrots, with a male on the left and female on the right. The technical term for this is "sexual dimorphism", which in birds is often manifested in size or plumage differences. In birds of prey the female is usually bigger, and in ducks the male often has a much more colorful and complicated plumage than the female. With most birds in the parrot family the sexes are similar, but not in the case of the Eclectus Parrot. Males have a bright emerald green plumage and females are mostly bright red with some purple/blue plumage. Even the bill color is different.

The Eclectus Parrot is the most sexually dimorphic of all parrot species. The difference is so pronounced that the first European ornithologists to see Eclectus Parrots in the wild on their visits to South-East Asia and Australia mistakenly thought that they were two distinct species. In fact, males were first described in 1776 and females not until 61 years later. It wasn't until the early 20th century that they were finally considered one species.

Eclectus Parrot 3
Photo by raider of gin (CC BY 2.0)

Cute Eclectus Parrot Gifts

Comments

Be the first to comment

Comments with links or HTML will be deleted. Your comment will be published pending approval.
Your email address will not be published

T-Shirt Tuesday: Birdorable Malleefowl

Today's featured T-Shirt Tuesday design is our Birdorable Malleefowl, a ground-dwelling bird from Australia. These cuties are Australia's largest mound builders. The male builds its nest-mound from dirt, leaves and sticks it finds in the mallee forest. The Malleefowl is shown here on our Edun LIVE Ladies...

2019 Bonanza Bird #5: Spectacled Flowerpecker

Today's new Birdorable is really a brand new bird! The Spectacled Flowerpecker was officially described by science in October of this year. The bird was first sighted in Borneo in 2009, but a specimen wasn't available for detailed study until March...

Bonanza Bird #11: The Greenfinch

For 18 days we're adding a new Birdorable bird every day as part of our Birdorable Bonanza 2010. Today's bird is the European Greenfinch, shown above with two other common European feeder birds: the

Great Horned Owl coloring fun!

After Birdorable fan Ashira sent us her lovely warbler coloring pages, she forwarded this Great Horned Owl image to us. Doesn't it look great? If you’ve colored in any...