The rump is very bright, almost metallic green. As is the margins of the feathers on the underparts, with this coloration becoming more pronounced towards the vent and thighs. The neck is grey-brown merging to brown on the head but merging to greenish on the mantle. On some individuals, some random yellow feathers are visible on the head, neck and wings. Why these occur is unknown but it has been proposed that these may result from over-vigorous preening by parents.
General Description
| Name: | Brown-headed Poicephalus |  |
|
|---|---|---|---|
| Latin Name: | Poicephalus cryptoxanthus | ||
| Life Span: | 15 – 20 years | ||
| Length: | 22 cm | ||
| Weight: | 120 – 156 g | ||
| Wingspan: | 145 – 165 mm | ||
| Sexual Maturity: | 2 -3 years | ||
| Breeding Season: | April and October | ||
| Clutch: | |||
| Nesting: | |||
| Natural Diet: | They are seen as opportunistic generalists as a result of their natural diet changing dependent on a food source being available or unavailable in their present environment. Typically, they feed on berries, figs, shoots, flowers, fruits, and seeds but more specifically, they tend to prefer the flowers and fruits of the Natal Mahogany tree (Trichilia emetica), Acacia spp. and lepidopteran larvae. | ||
| Gender Difference: | DNA testing is required | ||
Sub-Species
| SUB-SPECIES PROPERTIES |
|
| LATIN NAME | DIFFERENCES |
|---|---|
| P. cryptoxanthus cryptoxanthus | Ranges from Northern KwaZulu-Natal northwards to southern Mozambique and southeastern Zimbabwe. |
| P. cryptoxanthus tanganyikae | Distinguished in having a much paler and more greenish plumage with less brown on the head, throat, neck and rump. The underparts appear to be brighter and more yellowish. It occurs north of the Save River in Mozambique, southern Malawi, eastern Tanzania and coastal Kenya. |
| P. cryptoxanthus zanzibaricus | The existence of this putative third subspecies, confined to the islands of Zanzibar and Pemba, is now doubted. Clancey (1977)[7] found no difference in size between the modern birds of Zanzibar and those from the mainland. He concluded that if the subspecies existed then it is now extinct, either because of the direct intervention of man trapping the birds or by interbreeding with immigrant P. c. tanganyikae from the mainland. Similarly, whilst Forshaw (1989) reports morphological measurements for P.c. zanzibaricus, he also concludes that the existence of the subspecies is highly dubious. |
Status
Classified as Least Concern (LC) on the IUCN Red List and is listed on Appendix xxxx of CITES
IUCN Red List – Least Concern Species