Pionus

The Perroquet S of the kind Pionus are of intermediate size and resemble somewhat the the Amazon because of their squat and solid bodies, provided with a short tail out of spatula. But they have all typically the under-caudal feathers (below of the tail) of color bright red. It is this reason which pushed the ornithologists to catalog them under the kind Pionus which includes/understands eight species of intermediate size (24 to 31 cm) and not presenting sexual dimorphism. One can differentiate two groups: green species and dark species.

List species

The kind Pionus includes/understands the following species:

Pione de Maximilien - Pionus maximiliani (Kuhl)
Pione with blue head - Pionus menstruus (Linnaeus)
Pione with white crown - Pionus senilis (Spix)
Pione black - Pionus chalcopterus (Fraser)
Pione violet - Pionus fuscus (P.L.S. Müller)
Pione with red nozzle - Pionus sordidus (Linnaeus)
Pione spangled - Pionus tumultuosus (Tschudi)

Pione frosted - Pionus tumultuosus seniloides (Massena & Souancé)

Description and biology

The seven species all of piones are originating in Central America and the South. They attend the wooded areas and the forests. They generally have sunk enough colors and have broad eyes surrounded by an ocular circle of naked or coloured skin.

A behavior specific to these birds is the practice to emit a whistling and haletant noise when they excited or are frightened. That can appear disconcerting but it is completely normal.

Breeding

Each couple will be placed in a birdcage from two to three meters length. The piones being robust, they can remain all the year in external birdcage equipped with a good dry shelter, but not heated if the temperature allows it. The current trend is to place them out of individual cage. In this case, the eggs are withdrawn to be put out of incubator or the young people are taken nest to be high with the hand, usually known as " EAM". One indicates by " EPP" birds raised by their parents without the intervention of the man. A great number of piones born in captivity are currently high with the hand, which makes it possible to obtain familiar birds very close to the human being.

These birds are less destroying and much less noisy than the amazones, for example. Fresh branches are however necessary for their good balance and to occupy them.

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