Maroon-tailed Parakeet

The maroon-tailed parakeet is 23 to 25 cm (9.1 to 9.8 in) long and weighs about 83 g (2.9 oz). The sexes are the same. Adults of the nominate subspecies P. m. melanura have a mostly green head with a brown crown and nape. Their upperparts are green. Their throat, the sides of their neck, and their breast are dark green with buffy whitish feather edges that give a scaly appearance. The rest of their underparts are green. Their wing is mostly green with red and yellowish orange primary coverts; their primaries are mostly blue. Their tail's upper surface is maroon with a green base and its under surface is dusky grayish. Their bill is grayish, their iris dark brown with bare white skin surrounding it, and their legs and feet blackish gray. Immature birds are similar to adults but with less red on the primary coverts. Subspecies P. m. pacifica is darker than the nominate and has no yellow on its primary coverts. Its breast scaling is darker and narrower, its eye ring gray, and its bill blackish. P. m. chapmani is larger than the nominate with less red on its wing and a red patch on its belly. The scaly appearance of its breast extends around the back of its neck. P. m. souancei has a more heavily scaled throat than the nominate, with no yellow on the primary coverts, sometimes red on its carpals, a brownish red belly, and a blacker undertail. P. m. …

The subspecies of the maroon-tailed parakeet are found thus:

P. m. pacifica, Pacific slope of the Andes from Colombia's Nariño Department south to Ecuador's Cotopaxi Province P. m. chapmani, the upper valley of the Magdalena River on the eastern slope of Colombia's Central Andes in Tolima and Huila departments P. m. melanura, the upper Amazon Basin in southern Venezuela, southeastern Colombia, eastern Ecuador, northeastern Peru, and northwestern Brazil P. m. souancei, the eastern slope of the Andes from the Serranía de la Macarena in south-central Colombia into eastern Ecuador and perhaps northern Peru P. m. berlepschi, the eastern slope of the Andes from Morona-Santiago Province in Ecuador to the Huallaga River valley in northern Peru The maroon-tailed parakeet inhabits the canopy and edges of a variety of landscapes including wet lowland premontane forest, cloudforest, várzea, terra firme, and also partially cleared areas. It is most common between 500 and 1,700 m (1,600 and 5,600 ft) of elevation, but P. m. pacifica ranges up to 2,200 m (7,200 ft), P. m. souancei to 3,200 m (10,500 ft), and P. m. berlepschi to 3,200 m (10,500 ft). P. m. chapmani is the exception; it ranges between 1,600 and 2,800 m (5,200 and 9,200 ft).

The maroon-tailed parakeet typically forages in flocks of about six to 12 individuals. Its diet is not known in detail but includes fruit from forest trees and palms, and also cultivated fruits like mangoes and guavas.