Diet: This species eats a variety of small fruits, seeds, and flowers. Even when it appears to be eating fruits (such as figs), it may in fact be cracking and digesting the small seeds they contain (Janzen 1981).

Species	Season	Photo
Silk Cotton (Ceiba pentandra) seeds	Dry
Tempisque (Sideroxylon capiri) flowers	Dry
Fig (Ficus spp.) seeds	Both
Muntingia calabura fruits	Both	(See Conure Page)
Mora ( Maclura tinctoria) fruits/seeds	Wet
Pochote (Pachira quinata) seeds	Wet

 

Night Roosts: Parakeets invest considerable effort and time in late afternoon staging. The same general night roost area is typically used for weeks by 50-150 birds, and then is moved to a new site often at a considerable distance (e.g. kms). Staging begins in late afternoon with the arrival of 1-2 pairs who sit high in bare trees and emit contact calls to overflying conspecifics. Many of these immediately drop out of the sky and join the roosting pairs. Often, several different staging groups will form in different trees as much as 50-100 m apart. However, as the staging continues, one after the other of the groups suddenly gives up and flies to join the largest remaining unit. By 5:15 PM, there is usually only a single giant aggregation left. Shortly after, birds from this aggregation begin flying into the sleeping tree. This may be a quite small tree (<4 m in diameter and <4 m high). Poro Poro trees (Cochlospermum vitifolium) are a wet season favorite. They will also sleep in dense masses of leafy vines. There appears to be considerable competition for central perches in the communal sleeping tree and as one pair dives into the tree, others are often displacedt. Eventually all the birds are completely hidden in the roost tree's foliage and the aggregation quiets down for sleep. Shortly after dawn, about 5:10-5:20 AM, one can hear a few soft tinkling calls from inside the sleeping tree. Usually on the second or third of these events, the entire aggregation bursts from the night roost and flies to adjacent trees to preen and sort out into foraging flocks.

 

Nesting: Like the sympatric Conures, Parakeets can excavate cavities in arboreal termitaria for their nests. They will also use old woodpecker holes, cavities in palms, and even rock crevices. Unlike the Conures, several pairs of Parakeets may excavate separate holes in the same termitarium and all breed there. Nesting begins in the dry season and may extend into the early wet season. Clutch size is usually 4-5 eggs. The female incubates the eggs and both parents feed the offspring.

 

Predators: A number of moderate to smallish hawks will take Parakeets if they can catch them. This species is particularly afraid of the Zone-tailed Hawk (Buteo albonotatus) which often mimics the silouette and rocking flight of Turkey Vultures (Cathartes aurea). As a result, staging groups of Parakeets will often panic and scatter into the vegetation when a Turkey Vulture flies by. This species is taken at night by the large carnivorous bat, Vampyrum spectrum, but less often than is the sympatric Conure (Vehrencamp et al. 1977). Another nocturnal predator on Parakeets is the Barn Owl (Tyto alba) which can be seen flying at suspected night roost trees just before dawn in an attempt to flush nearly awake Parakeets. Like the Conures, both adults and nestlings are vulnerable to monkey, snake, and lizard predators when in their nests.

 

Flock Structure: Typical flock sizes during the day are 2-16 birds. This species is more likely to recruit overflying conspecifics to food finds than any of the other SSR species. When one flock finds a fig, the birds often emit contact calls to other passing pairs or flocks and attract them into the tree. This presumably decreases the risk of predation to individual birds at minimal costs given the large numbers of figs typically found on SSR trees. After foraging, one or more more flocks will join into play and sleeping aggregations during midday. These are often conspicuous as the birds keep up a steady chatter and squabling throughout the midday period. Flocks reseparate in early afternoon for additional foraging. Staging aggregations typically begin forming about 4 PM.