Anatomical features of parrots. The structure of a budgerigar Getting to know some lorises
This article may be very useful.
The budgerigar is a small species, its body length is only 18 cm, but if we're talking about about exhibition budgerigars, then here the size of the bird is 24 cm. The length is measured from the top of the head to the tip of the tail.
Visual representation of the structure of a budgerigar in the photo:
Photo: KarenAnatomy of a budgerigar
Bones The budgerigar, like other birds, is hollow, light and durable. Strong pectoral muscles are attached to the keel bone.
Scull large.
Neck long, consisting of 10 vertebrae. Allows the bird to rotate its head almost 180 degrees.
Jaws. The upper part of the beak budgerigar not fused to the skull (unlike other birds), it forms a movable joint with a wide range of action. This occurs due to the fact that the parrot's upper jaw is connected by a tendon to the frontal part.
Beak. Budgerigars have a strong, rounded beak. It is covered with a strong stratum corneum. The cere with the nasal openings is located at the base of the beak (beak). The beak of budgerigars is much more mobile than that of other birds.
Photo: garden beth Language. Budgerigars are smooth-tongued parrots, the tip of their tongue is covered with a stratum corneum. The tongue itself is thick, short and rounded.
Eyes. Budgerigars see the world in color, with shades and from a wide angle (monocular vision), that is, they simultaneously observe two “broadcasts”. When a bird wants to look at an object, it tilts its head to the side and looks at it with one eye.
The bird also has a third eyelid (flashing membrane), which protects the eyeball from contamination and drying out.
Budgerigars do not have eyelashes; they are replaced by small semi-feathers.
Ears. The hearing organs of budgerigars are hidden by feathers. They help birds navigate and communicate.
Birds perceive sounds in the range from 120 Hz to 15 kHz.
Paws budgerigars have strong muscles, they allow the birds to deftly move along branches, run on the ground, hold, carry and throw food or objects.
Fingers. Wavys have 4 long toes on each foot.
Photo: David Ellis Claws sharp, tenacious and curved.
Leather in budgerigars it is hidden under thick plumage. If you spread/inflate the feathers, you can see a thin, film-like skin, under which there is a network of blood vessels.
The body temperature of a budgerigar is about 42 degrees.
Respiratory system. The wavy has two pairs of “air sacs”. When you inhale, air is directed through the lungs into the air sacs of the neck and head; When you exhale, air from the abdominal sacs passes through the lungs. The parrot's body is enriched with oxygen by constantly passing air through the lungs.
Because of this feature, the bird is very vulnerable to harmful impurities in the air.
Breathing rate of a budgerigar: 65-85 breaths per minute.
The thoracic cavity contains the organ “syrinx” (lower larynx), it is located at the place where the trachea divides into the right and left bronchi. The syrinx consists of membranes, folds and muscles that can change shape, size, and degree of tension, which forms the bird’s voice.
Why ? Parrots can copy sounds and speech; they are very good imitators. They achieve all this thanks to the influence of the brain on the lower larynx.
The cardiovascular system. Birds, like humans, have arterial and venous circulatory systems. But what’s interesting is that birds have quite large heart sizes, this is due to their high metabolic rate (especially when flying).
Photo: Andy Langager The pulse rate of a budgerigar during rest is about 400-600 beats per minute; in flight it exceeds 1000 beats.
Under such conditions, the parrot's blood pressure will definitely be high.
Digestive system. The bird's palate contains food receptors. There are significantly fewer of them than in humans, so a budgerigar cannot be called a gourmet.
There is no saliva in the bird's mouth; the food is moistened, entering the esophagus and then into the stomach. Next is the duodenum and intestines. The processed residues are excreted through the cloaca.
Birds do not have a bladder or urethra; their kidneys produce urine, which is excreted through the cloaca.
Nervous system similar to human. It regulates and coordinates the activities of all parts of the parrot's body.
The structure of the brain is more complex than that of reptiles. It is larger, the cerebral hemispheres are smooth without convolutions or grooves. Inside them are centers for coordinating instinctive forms of brain activity, including singing and feeding. Behind the hemispheres is the cerebellum, which is responsible for maintaining balance in flight.
The higher parts of the brain control the spinal cord.
The autonomic nervous system regulates the functioning of the digestive, circulatory, excretory and reproductive organs. It is also responsible for controlling the entire muscle group, including the heart muscle, as well as the iris.
The structure of a budgerigar, like the structure of any creature, is a very complex system. Ornithologists carefully study birds and analyze not only their behavior, but also have a professional understanding of the functioning of the bird’s body.
Photo: Jen Many fanciers mistakenly project their needs onto the needs of a budgerigar; sometimes this can simply be a waste of time and money, and sometimes a serious mistake can be made in keeping the bird.
For lovers of budgies, a more in-depth study of your pet is individual and optional. But even a passing knowledge of your bird's anatomy can help you understand your pet and its needs.
To figure out how to understand a parrot, you need to observe its behavior
In nature, budgies are less common than at home. The idea that they only reproduce screams is erroneous. This sharp, abrupt sound is not the basis of communication for them. In human speech it would sound like “cha-cha-cha.” Parrots use it to communicate that they are excited, nervous or scared. Sometimes it indicates the bird’s cheerful and daring mood. She begins to actively move around the cage and flap her wings, telling her owner about her fun.
With short sounds reminiscent of “chak-chak”, the bird expresses approval and agreement. At the same time, she leaves the beak slightly open. This action shows what brings pleasure to your beloved pet.
When a bird wants to have fun, it starts whistling
The bird is trying to talk
Gestures help express friendship. When meeting its owner, the bird may hit its closed beak on an outstretched finger. Such a greeting symbolizes trust and goodwill.
The chirping of parrots differs from other species of birds in its melodiousness. It reveals various intonations and halftones. A simple chirp expresses concern, curiosity, or a pleasant mood. It all depends on the volume level.
Owners like to communicate with their feathered pets in human language. However, the bird does not understand the meaning of the words spoken. For her, the sounds of human speech are a way to express emotions. She reproduces the speech in good mood, expressing readiness to communicate.
V. TRETYAKOV, biologist.
A kaleidoscope of colors: a flock of mountain multicolored lorikeets.
Multicolor lorikeets in nature.
A pair of red lorises.
Yellow-backed loris.
One of many subspecies of the multicolored lorikeet.
Home bred multicolored lorikeet chicks.
In the parrot family, ornithologists distinguish the subfamily Loriidae, or brush-tongues. Unlike other parrots, which have a smooth tongue, the end and top of the tongue are covered with a kind of brush of leathery outgrowths. With their help, these amazing birds eat liquid, viscous food: they lick tree sap, drink flower nectar and tropical fruit juice. The beak of loris is similar to that of the seed-eating parrots we are familiar with, but in reality it is much weaker. Such a parrot lands on the inflorescence of a plant, mercilessly bites the flower and licks the sweet liquid, while becoming covered in pollen from head to toe. In Australia, New Guinea and numerous islands of the Pacific Ocean, the trees and bushes on which the lorises feast are strewn with flowers, and parrots are not able to spoil everything. Along with insects, they contribute to plant pollination. Scientists suggest that birds and plants adapted to each other for about thirty million years, eventually forming strong, mutually beneficial relationships.
In addition to berries, fruits and nectar, lorises diversify their menu with succulent flower petals, young leaves, and sometimes small insects, such as soft hairless caterpillars.
Meet some lorises
According to some data, there are 58, according to others - 70 species of Lori parrots, included in 11 (or 16) genera. These birds range from 18 to 40 centimeters in length. The smaller species, which have elongated, wedge-shaped tails, are commonly called lorikeets. They are excellent flyers. Parrots from the genus Lorius are distinguished by short and wide rounded tails and prefer to stay in the thick of tree branches. Representatives of the genera Eos and Pseudeos have tails of intermediate shape.
The Dutch word "lorie" means "clown", and these parrots were called that for a reason. The birds are wonderfully bright and richly colored, as if dressed up for a carnival. Oddly enough, such bright colors camouflage the parrot feeding among the leaves and flowers. Differently colored areas of the plumage seem to divide the body into fragments.
The most terrible enemy for feathered “clowns” are snakes, in particular large tree pythons, which react not so much to the colors of the surrounding world, but to the movement and smell of a potential victim.
Most often found in home zoo corners multi-colored, or rainbow, lorikeet(Trichoglossus haematodus), inhabitant of multi-story tropical and eucalyptus forests. Ornithologists count 21-22 subspecies of this bird. Its distribution area is vast: the north and east of Australia, the Moluccas, part of the Sunda Islands, the islands of New Guinea, New Caledonia, the New Hebrides and Bismarck archipelagos. Subspecies differ in the coloring of individual areas of the plumage. The iris of the eyes is red, in the female it is lighter, with an orange tint. The length of the birds is 26-33 centimeters.
Of all the subspecies of the multicolored lorikeet, two usually end up in Europe. The first has a dark blue head, a yellow neck stripe, a red chest area, the feathers of which have a black and blue border, a greenish belly, and yellow undertail and shin plumage with green stripes. This parrot lives in the New Hebrides archipelago.
The second subspecies, the mountain multicolored lorikeet, is distinguished by a blue belly, a greenish-yellow neck stripe, pure green shins and undertail, a red chest area, the sides of which are orange. Its distribution area is eastern Australia and Tasmania.
No less famous, but rarer parrots - broad-tailed loris. There are eight types. We will only mention the yellow-backed, purple-capped and ladies' ones. The first lives on the northern and middle Moluccas, the second on the southern, and the third on New Guinea and nearby small islands. They are the size of a jackdaw, that is, approximately 30 centimeters in length. The beaks are orange-red and there is a narrow gray ring of bare skin around the eyes. These amazingly beautiful birds look like this. Yellow-backed loris(Lorius garrula). The main color of the plumage is bright red. The drumsticks are green. There is a triangular yellow spot on the upper back. The wings are olive green, their folds are yellow. The end of the tail is green with a purple tint. Purple-capped loris(L. domicella) is also mostly red. A yellow stripe runs across the crop. The top of the head is black with a purple tint. The plumage of the lower legs is blue. The wings are olive green, blue at the folds. The end of the tail is blackish. Lady's loris(L. Lori). There is a black “cap” on the head. The sides of the head, the back of the head, the throat, the sides of the body, the lower part of the back and the upper tail coverts are red. The upper back, crop, chest, belly and lower tail coverts are blue. The red plumage of the head, throat and nape is separated from the red plumage of the sides of the body by a blue transverse stripe running from the crop to the upper back. The wings are green on top. The tail is red and dark blue at the end.
All these parrots are particularly demanding when it comes to feeding and are very thermophilic. But with proper, careful care, they live a long time, becoming strongly attached to people. When kept alone, even adult birds caught in the wild can be easily tamed. In their ability to imitate human speech, they are superior not only to other types of lorises and lorikeets, but also to most large and medium-sized parrots (with the exception of grays and some Amazons). Red loris(Eos bornea) is an amazingly beautiful, bright bird. Lives on the Moluccas and Kai Islands. This is an elegant, slender parrot of a brilliant red color (the feathers of the body are white at the base). The primary flight feathers of the wing are black with red “mirrors”, and the secondary feathers are red with black tips. Large wing coverts (in the back area) are blue and black. The undertail and the stripe from it to the legs are black and blue. Brown eyes are surrounded by a strip of bluish-gray skin. The bill is dark orange in males and light orange in females. The latter have a slightly smaller head, more rounded and neat in shape. The birds are about 30 centimeters long. The parrot received its scientific name (Eos) in honor of the ancient Greek goddess of the dawn Eos (aka Aurora). Dark loris(Pseudeos fuscata) is widespread in New Guinea. This parrot was sold at the Moscow Bird Market in July of this year. The main color of the plumage is olive-brown, the bird is very beautiful. The beak is reddish-orange. There is a large straw-yellow spot on the crown. There is a yellow-orange ribbon around the neck, and a second such ribbon runs along the chest, but darker, more orange. The belly and thighs are red. The undertail is blue. In the mid-80s, in one of the enclosures of the Moscow Zoo there lived a dark loris, which “became friends” (or rather, formed a pair) with the red-headed aratinga, a completely unrelated parrot brought from South America. These loners were prompted to get closer to each other by the extreme sociability inherent in any species of parrots. The birds spent all their time together, snuggling and affectionately picking each other's feathers. They just ate from different feeders: the aratinga was gnawing on grains, and the lori was lapping up a sweet mixture of honey and compote.
Sweet tooths and slobs
It is unlikely that anyone will remain indifferent when looking at loris parrots. But in our country, as in many others, these beautiful birds- rare inhabitants of domestic zoo corners. They do not tolerate long-term transportation well due to difficulties in feeding and a faster metabolism than other parrots. The widespread distribution of lorikeets and lorises among hobbyists is hampered by two more circumstances. One thing is that loris, like all birds that eat soft and wet food, have liquid droppings. The parrot quickly stains the bottom of the cage, the bars, the perch, and sometimes even the wall of the room closest to its living area. And not only with excrement, but also with splashes of food. It is better to cover a metal or easily washable plastic cage tray with paper, pressing it on top with a coarse mesh (without it, the parrot will quickly tear the paper to shreds). This type of bedding has to be changed daily. Some loris owners put a layer of large sawdust on the tray.
Another negative circumstance: most lorises and lorikeets, if something bothers them, emit loud and piercing squeaking calls, which only the most patient bird lovers can endure.
The main component of the diet of red, broad-tailed and dark lorises is liquid porridge such as “Baby-daddy”, “Baby-mix”, “Frutolino”, consisting of semolina, fruits, vitamins, wheat or rice flour in the form of flakes. It does not require boiling, it is simply diluted hot water. Add a little sugar (preferably fruit), honey, fruit and carrot juices, rosehip syrup, any homemade jam (especially red and black currants mashed with sugar) to the gruel. You can also add calcium gluconate and glycerophosphate powder, and once a week - one or two drops of water-soluble multivitamins for birds. Condensed milk should not be included in the mixture, otherwise it will quickly turn sour.
To protect birds from indigestion during the hot season, it is recommended to give liquid food in small portions two to three times a day.
Lories eat apples, pears, grapes, bananas, grapefruits, and any garden berries well. They can be offered pieces of boiled chicken, dried white bread dipped in sweet tea or honey solution, and soft food for insectivorous birds (grated carrots with finely chopped boiled eggs and crushed white breadcrumbs). In spring, parrots are given branches of flowering willow and fruit trees with open buds, the first rosettes of dandelion, and in summer - sweet heads of blooming clover and woodlice. It takes quite a long time for a loris to get accustomed to soaked grains of wheat and corn.
Multicolored lorikeets quickly get used to grain food (sunflower, oats, oatmeal, white canary seed), which over time becomes the basis of the diet. But they, like all brush-tongued parrots, need to be given porridge, honey, fruits, and juices.
The well-being of a bird largely depends on the size of its home and how it is equipped. The ability to climb a variety of perches, ladders and trapezes is even more important for these parrots than the ability to fly. In cramped conditions, lorises and lorikeets feel depressed.
Life in the wild and in an enclosure
In their behavior and lifestyle, lorises are generally similar to granivorous parrots of the same size. They live in pairs or flocks in forest areas. They deftly climb branches, using their paws and beak at the same time. They nest in hollows of tall trees. Most species have only two eggs in a clutch.
All lorises love to swim. If it is not possible to provide them with a suitable bathing suit, you can gradually accustom the birds to spraying with a spray bottle.
Brush-tongued parrots living in spacious rooms can reproduce with good care and feeding. In the USA and countries Western Europe Their breeding has already been mastered. The easiest way to get offspring is from a multicolored lorikeet: just provide the couple with a large cage measuring 150 x 70 x 70 centimeters. The nesting house is made from boards or multilayer plywood, its height is 45-50, the bottom area is 30 x 30, and the diameter of the entrance is 8-10 centimeters. Lorikeets and lorises more readily inhabit nest boxes made from hollow tree trunks. A 5-7 cm layer of peat mixed with sawdust is poured onto the bottom of the nesting box. Birds love to spend the night in the house, so it needs to be cleaned more often.
The female lorikeet incubates the eggs for 23-25 days. The parents feed the chicks for 7-8 weeks, after which they leave the nest, and after another 2-3 weeks they begin to eat on their own.
Young lorikeets have a shorter tail than their parents and a beak that is not pure red. Multicolored lorikeets, born in captivity, are easily tamed and are well trained to “talk.” This is how they differ from adults caught in the wild. Unfortunately, it is only adult lorikeets that you can buy at the Bird Market. They are kept in pairs or groups. These birds have a calm disposition, so they get along well with cockatiels and budgies.
03.08.2016 - 23:14
Animals can talk. You won't believe it, but it's true. Wordless (as we mistakenly call them) creatures (as we humiliatingly call them) are capable of excellent communication both among themselves and with us, the kings of nature. And it is not their fault that we do not understand this language. God knows, they are trying in every possible way to convey their thoughts and feelings to us.
I told you: “Meow!”
They say that cats meow only for humans. but they prefer to communicate with each other in a different way. But we won’t look into what the four-legged shaggy creatures are gossiping about to each other now - we won’t get into cat squabbles yet. Better yet, let’s take an interest in those “words”, “gestures” and behavior patterns of cats that are intended exclusively for us humans.
So, let's get acquainted with the cat's “dictionary”. A short, quiet meow means an ordinary greeting. And if several “me...” follow one after another, then this means that you are very welcome. A long and extended meow on a medium note is a requirement to do something, for example, open a door. With the same sound, but in lower tones, the cat usually expresses dissatisfaction, and in high tones - pain or fear. By purring – “the engine is on” – the animal demonstrates pleasure, but sometimes this means that it is sick and is trying to calm itself down. Meowing combined with purring - “pay attention to me!”
Sometimes the cat makes sounds similar to croaking. This happens in cases where an animal, for example, tries to catch a fly, but fails, or sees birds outside the window, but the glass prevents it from “getting to know” them better. And if the cat hisses, it means that he is going to defend himself from someone.
In addition to vocabulary, our furry friends widely use sign language, where the tail plays a major role. If the tail is raised up, “I’m fine,” if it’s raised and vibrates, “I’m glad to see you.” By the way, only domestic cats allow themselves to raise their tail. Wild animals always wear it down or even tucked between their legs.
The tail is fluffed and raised near the base - “fear me, I am angry!” And if it is lowered and squeezed between the hind legs - “I’m scared!” The intense wagging of a cat's tail, unlike a dog's, indicates an extreme degree of dissatisfaction. And if the cat leisurely waves it from side to side, then he is simply thinking about a choice: for example, to go outside or sit at home in the warmth?
The cat rubs its cheek against you or your friends. This means showing sympathy. Thus, he marks “his own”. But if an animal, in the presence of guests, begins to rub only against you and the furniture, it means that he did not particularly like the guests, and thus he shows them who is the boss here.
A long rub over the entire body from head to tail is a very gentle cat greeting.
If your pet sniffs your face, it means he has doubts: “Is this really you?” The subsequent “kiss” with a wet nose and the desire to hide your head under your chin or armpit is recognition and a manifestation of love and affection.
“Milk step” - the cat “kneads” you with its paws, then releasing and then retracting its claws. This is what kittens do when they are about to suckle their mother. If an animal does this to you, then this is the highest manifestation of love and a sense of comfort.
Well, if you are licked, it means that you are a recognized member of the cat family, or there is something tasty left on you.
Business comes first
The bees completely ignore us. And they were included in this article only because quite recently scientists found out that bees (yes, those same yellow striped mindless insects) have their own rather complex language for communicating exclusively with each other.
All their lives, bees do the same thing, without thinking about where the honey they collect goes. By the way, if they suddenly think about this, and even figure out the cause-and-effect relationships, then beekeeping will come to an end.
But that's not what we're talking about. Since ancient times, beekeepers have repeatedly observed the “dancing” of bees and initially it was not clear what it was: rest, warm-up, transmission of information? And now we have managed to decipher this amazing code, with the help of which worker bees inform others about the location of a new, rich source of food. If this source is located not far from the hive, then the bee makes simple circular movements, as if inviting it to fly behind itself. If it is far from a clearing rich in flowers, then it begins to draw a more complex figure in front of the nest, vaguely reminiscent of a figure eight, periodically wagging its belly. The number of these movements is somehow proportional to the distance to the object - scientists have not yet really figured this out - and the angle of inclination of the figure drawn in the air shows the direction relative to the sun. The smell with which the messenger is saturated indicates which flowers in the new area are worthy of visiting.
Did you say something?
But what we can really call a real, “human” language is the language of parrots.
Oddly enough, a parrot living in a house is capable of keeping silent about many things, but at the same time telling about things that are completely unsuitable for other people’s ears. This feature is due to the fact that parrots best remember words spoken with emotional uplift.
Most shining example- an event that occurred in May 2002 in a British bird sanctuary. The spouses who worked at the reserve were forced to literally take the parrot home for one night. The bird, depressed by the move, remained silent all evening, and towards nightfall it supposedly fell asleep. But as soon as the parrot returned to the reserve in the morning, he opened his beak and began to speak, without stopping for several hours. The theme for the bird's monologue was the intimate life of the unhappy spouses. The parrot described in detail, in their faces, with all the necessary intonations, the past night. The husband and wife did not know where to hide their eyes from the employees and were ready to strangle the ungrateful witness to their love games. In the end, the parrot was isolated in a separate room until he forgot everything he saw.
Fortunately (for spouses), parrots have a short memory, and if people do not repeat the words they have learned for a long time, then the birds forget them too. It is much more interesting to teach a feathered friend to talk not just like that, but with a certain meaning. However, this will take time. If you show a parrot an object and at the same time pronounce its name loudly, then soon the bird will begin to react properly and correctly name the objects and even comment on simple actions.
American scientists believe that parrots can not only remember words and objects, but also manipulate concepts that are quite complex for animals. So, for example, the cockatoo Snowball, in this moment, carefree living in one of the bird sanctuaries in the USA, knows how to... dance. The previous owner of the snowball told scientists that at first the parrot imitated the movements of the children dancing in front of him, and then he himself began to move to the beat. His favorite melodies, as it turned out, are performed by the group “ Backstreet Boys", but with the same success he is able to dance to Queen and Lady Gaga.
Observations have shown that the movements of the cockatoo are not random, and it actually moves to the music. At least, as much as it can. Now scientists have to find out whether the parrot’s “dancing” corresponds to its natural movements, for example, during the mating season, or whether it has developed some of its own movements. Why is this necessary? It turns out that the bird's ability to move its legs and head in rhythm may shed light on the treatment of diseases such as, say, Parkinson's disease using music in humans.
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PARROT LORIES
Representatives of the subfamily owe their modern name to the Dutch word “lorie,” which means “clown.” And these parrots were called that for a reason. It's all about the color of their plumage. And the birds are colorful, bright and juicy, as if they were specially dressed up for the carnival. But in reality, oddly enough, such flashy colors disguise a parrot feeding among the leaves and flowers. Differently colored areas of the plumage seem to divide the body into fragments.
And what distinguishes representatives of the subfamily Loriidae (Loriinae), or brush-tongues, from other species of the parrot family is the special structure of the tongue. Unlike other parrots, which have smooth skin on the tongue, the tip and top of the tongue are covered with a kind of brush consisting of leathery outgrowths. This structure of the brush allows parrots of the Loriidae subfamily to eat not only viscous, but also liquid food. They easily lick tree sap and tropical fruit juice, and also drink flower nectar.
The shape of the Loriids' beak is similar to that of all other seed-eating parrots, but in reality it is much weaker. Therefore, the loris parrot sits on the inflorescence of a plant, bites the flower and licks the sweet liquid that is released. At the same time, he is completely covered, from head to toe, with flower pollen. Within the range of loris, which covers Australia, New Guinea and a number of numerous islands of the Pacific Ocean, there are many trees and shrubs on which lorises feed. They are strewn with such a huge number of flowers that parrots are simply not able to spoil them all. Therefore, along with insects, they contribute to the pollination of the flowers of these plants. Researchers do not rule out that birds and plants have been adapting to each other for about thirty million years, ultimately developing mutually beneficial relationships.
Loris, feeding mainly on berries, fruits and nectar, diversify their menu with succulent flower petals, young leaves, and sometimes small insects and their larvae.
In the taxonomy of the subfamily, not everything is clear and simple. According to some authors, there are 58 species of Lori parrots, according to other sources - about 70, included in 11 or 16 genera, respectively. Loria parrots can range from 18 to 40 centimeters in length. The smaller species, which have elongated, wedge-shaped tails, belong to the group of lorikeets. Lorikeets are excellent fliers. Representatives of the genus Lorius have short and wide rounded tails and prefer to stay in the thick of tree crowns. Representatives of the genera Eos and Pseudeos have intermediate-shaped tails.
Lori parrots have few natural enemies, and the most terrible of them are snakes, in particular large tree pythons. For them, the protective coloring of parrots is not a barrier - they find their victims not so much by the colors of the surrounding world, but by the movement and smell of a potential victim.
The most common species found in home zoos is the multicolored, or rainbow, lorikeet (Trichoglossus haematodus), an inhabitant of multi-tiered tropical and eucalyptus forests. The range of this species is extensive: the north and east of Australia, the Moluccas, part of the Sunda Islands, the islands of New Guinea, New Caledonia, the New Hebrides and Bismarck archipelagos. These birds reach 26-33 centimeters in length. The iris of the eyes is red, but in the female it is lighter, with an orange tint. Subspecies of the rainbow lorikeet, and there are more than two dozen of them, differ from each other in the coloring features of individual areas of the plumage.
Of the variety of subspecies of the rainbow or multicolored lorikeet, two usually end up in Europe. The first subspecies, living in the New Hebrides archipelago, has a dark blue head, a yellow neck stripe, a red chest area, the feathers of which have a black and blue border, a greenish belly, and yellow undertail and shin plumage with green stripes.
The second subspecies, the mountain multicolored lorikeet, which lives naturally in eastern Australia and Tasmania, is distinguished by a blue belly, a greenish-yellow neck stripe, pure green shins and undertail, a red chest area, the sides of which are orange.
More rare parrots of the broad-tailed loris genus, of which there are eight species. Of these, the yellow-backed loris lives on the northern and middle Moluccas islands, the purple-capped loris on the southern ones, and the lady's loris on New Guinea and nearby small islands. All of them are the size of a jackdaw, that is, approximately 30 centimeters in length. The beaks are orange-red and there is a narrow gray ring of bare skin around the eyes.
