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| SCIENTIFIC
CLASSIFICATION |
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| COMMON
NAME: |
blue-streaked
lory, blue-necked lory |
| KINGDOM: |
Animalia |
| PHYLUM: |
Chordata |
| CLASS: |
Aves |
| ORDER: |
Psittaciformes |
| FAMILY: |
Loriidae
(parrot) |
| GENUS
SPECIES: |
Eos
(dawn; refers to red color) reticulata (reticulated;
net-like) |
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| DESCRIPTION: |
With
this parrot there is no sexual dimorphism. In color
this lory has a bright red feathers over most of
its body with blue streaks on the mantle and behind
the neck. The secondaries are red and black; the
bend of the wing and lesser wing converts are red;
the tail red; and the beak orange. |
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| SIZE: |
Approximately
30 cm (12 in.) |
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| WEIGHT: |
Approximately
140-170 g |
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| DIET: |
Feeds
on fruit, seeds, buds, nectar, unripe grain, and
pollen |
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| INCUBATION: |
24-26 days |
| CLUTCH
SIZE |
2-3
eggs |
| FLEDGING
DURATION |
Young
leave the nesting hollow for the first time after
7-8 weeks, but return to the nest to roost for a
short time. Fledglings may remain with the parents
over summer before moving into the communal roost. |
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| SEXUAL
MATURITY: |
Approximately
9 months (usually will not breed until 2-3 years) |
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| LIFE
SPAN: |
Lives
about 15-30 years in wild; 28-32 years in captivity |
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| RANGE: |
Northwestern
New Guinea; Tanimbar Islands |
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| HABITAT: |
Found
in lowland areas |
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| POPULATION: |
GLOBAL |
Unknown |
| REGIONAL |
Estimated
220,000±50,000 birds on Yamdena |
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| STATUS: |
IUCN |
Not
listed |
| CITES |
Appendix
II |
| USFWS |
Lower
risk/near threatened |
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| 1. |
Lorikeets
have very specialized tongues for feeding on nectar.
Tiny hair-like structures called 'papillae' line
the end of the tongue in the shape of an "U".
When a lorikeet extends its tongue during feeding,
the papillae stand on end, like bristles on a brush,
allowing nectar and pollen to be easily soaked up.
Unique to lorikeets, this trait has earned them
the nickname "brush-tongued parrots". |
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| 2. |
Also unique to lorikeets is the shape of their beaks.
The upper mandible has a long, pointed tip and much
narrower structure than other parrots. This serves
to easily extract hard-to-reach seeds from cones
and other hard vegetation. The birds will scrape
the fruit on the inside of their bill and remove
the sweet juices with their specialized tongues. |
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| 3. |
Approximately 70% of their day is spent feeding,
and lorikeets will travel more than 30 miles a day
to find food. Some lorikeets can feed on as many
as 650 flowers each day. |
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| 4. |
They
are constantly active and noisy, feeding in large
groups and even in the company of other parrots
or other honey-eating birds. |
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| 5. |
Lorikeets
will establish daily flight paths connecting their
feeding sites, which tend to follow the natural
contours of the landscape, such as hills, valleys,
and rivers. At night, lories retreat along these
paths back to their communal roosts, which can contain
as many as several thousand birds. |
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| 6. |
They
will travel long distances in order to locate a
suitable nesting site. This will typically consist
of a nest with a layer of wood dust along the bottom,
usually in a tree cavity often as high as 80 feet
above the ground. |
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There
are 53 species of lories. Nearly all of them suffer
from habitat destruction, logging, agriculture,
and exotic pet trade.
Their
diet of fruits such as apples and pears as well
as corn often causes them to be responsible for
crop damages and are thus seen as pests in some
parts of their range where they are no longer
protected. In addition, trapping them in the wild
instead of captive breeding and the increase of
introduced predators such as cats and dogs are
responsible for their rapidly declining numbers.
Lories
are very important to our ecosystem because of
their eating habits. Not all of the seeds they
consume are digested; many are passed in the bird's
guano over new areas of the forest. Some species
eat nectar and are important in the pollination
of many species of plants in the tropical forests.
The
U.S. Wild Bird Act forbids the commercial import
of any bird listed by CITES which includes most
parrots - endangered or threatened.
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|
|
Forshaw, J.M. Parrots of the World. New
Jersey. T.F.H. Publications Inc. 1978.
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|
| Low,
R. Lories and Lorikeets. New York. Van Nostrand
Reinhold Company. 1977. |
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| Parker,
S. P. (ed.). Grzimek's Animal Life Encyclopedia.
Birds II. Vol. 8. New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold
Co., 1972. |
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| Perrins,
C. (ed.). The Encyclopedia of Birds. New
York: Facts on File Publications. 1985. |
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| www.aquariumofpacific.org/lorikeets/lorikeets.htm |
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| http://www.birdlife.org/datazone/search/species_search.html |
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The
On-line Monograph of the Lories and Lorikeets
http://students.washington.edu/~nyneve/rare-lories.html |
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| http://
www.santabarbarazoo.org/animals/birds/lorikeet.html |
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