Sri Lanka Hanging parrot

Loriculus beryllinus

Endemic to Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka Hanging Parrot

Sri Lanka Hanging parrot or Sri Lanka Lorikeet is the smallest member of the parrots that you can spot in Sri Lanka (13-14 cm). It’s a resident endemic species which is fairly common in wet lowlands to mid hills, restricted to the foothill areas in the dry lowlands in Sri Lanka.

Main features

Size – 13 – 14 cm

Grass green plumage. Small short square tail. Red crown and rump. Orange nape with yellowish tinge on hind-neck and upper back. Male : with small blue patch on throat. Female : Similar but duller with only traces of the blue patch on throat.

Immature birds lack the orange hue to the back, have a duller rump, and have only a hint of orange on the crown. They have a faint blue throat.

Voice

A monotonous high, dry, sharp, quick, 3-note TSICK-TSICK-TSICK. A distinctive 3 syllabled tweet-tweet-tweet, tweet-tweet-tweet. On the wing , a sharp 3 syllabled whistle twitwitwit… twitwitwit

Breeding

First half of the year and July – September. Nest – closed, in a natural tree cavity that can be entered above, depth of which can be over a meter. A nest of long grass blades is built at the bottom. Clutch 2-3. Eggs are white measuring 19×16 mm.

Habit

It sleeps and feeds like a bat hanging its head downwards. During the season of toddy tapping on Fishtail palm trees, it has been observed that Sri Lanka Hanging-parrot drink the juicy sap from the toddy pots and fly from tree to tree as if intoxicated. Unlike other birds, the female brings her nesting material by tucking in the rump and wing feathers.

Source –  Birds of Sri Lanka – An illustrated guide by Sarath Kotagama & Gamini Ratnaweera -2017