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All About Parrots


adult African Grey parrot
Adult African Grey

Adult African Grey



Grey parrots depend on large, old trees for the natural hollows they use for nesting. Studies in Guinea and Guinea-Bissau have found that African Greys' preferred species of nesting trees are also species preferred for timber. The relationship between the status of the species and the status of primary forest is positive. Where the forests are declining, so too are populations of grey parrots.

Status in the Wild



World Population

As low as 560,000

Range

P.E. Erithacus: C Africa, from Comoe River, SE Ivory Coast east to N Angola, S Democratic Republic of Congo, NW Tanzania, W Kenya at Kakamega Forest and W Uganda; also Principe and Bioko Islands in Gulf of Guinea. P.E. Timneh: W Africa from Guinea-Bissau, Sierra Leone, and S Mali east to S Ivory Coast. Mixed with erithacus in feral population at Abidjan, Ivory Coast.

Habitat

Found in primary and secondary rainforest, forest edges and clearings, gallery forest and mangroves; wooded savanna, cultivated land and some gardens. Found up to 2200m (7216 ft).

Threat Summary

Extensive forest loss in Nigeria to Sierra Leone; heavy trapping for pet trade. Population declines have been noted in Burundi, Cameroon, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Kenya, Liberia, Nigeria, Rwanda, São Tomé and Príncipe, Sierra Leone, Togo, Uganda and parts of Congo and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. (BirdLife International)

IUCN Rating

Vulnerable

Wild Diet

Eats variety of seeds, nuts, fruits and berries and some cultivated maize.

CITES Rating

Appendix II

Ecology

Feeds at tops of trees; gregarious, forming large communal flocks of up to 1000 individuals; roosts in palms over water or on islands in rivers. Disperses in smaller groups of 30 or so for feeding.

Clutch and Egg Size

2 to 3 rounded ovate eggs, 39.5 x 31.0 mm (1.5 x 1.2 in).

Breeding Season

In E Africa January-February and June-July; in general in other areas a dry season breeder.

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