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Yellow-faced Parrotlet - forpus xanthop

Cheeto (pet) Photo courtesy of Darlene Fitchet, Arizona

There are no known sub-species. At this time these birds are Appendix I CITES and are unable to be imported legally.

Habitat
Northwest of Peru, in the Mara valley

Size
14 to 15 cm.
Adult Weight: 55 to 60 grams

Description
The general color is green with a slight gray veil on the nape. The belly is yellow green. The mask is yellow, rather bright. The male's rump is a light cobalt-blue. The female rump is turquoise blue. The bill is horn-colored, with a black patch on the upper mandible.

Sexing
The difference is obvious, in that the color of the rump is different: turquoise blue for the
female, light cobalt-blue for the male.

Offspring
Like the adults, but paler. The dark patch on the bill appears very slowly over the first few months. Nesting chicks can be sexed as soon as the feathers grow on the rump.

In the wild
They are gregarious, rather common, although declining in the last years. They are met in cactus dominated savannahs, in open landscapes with light forests with falling leaves. They eat early in the morning or late at night on cactus and orchards.

Very little is known about their reproduction in the wild. The reproduction starts between March and April, at the end of the rain season, corresponding to abundant seeds. The nests are made in natural holes or in old woodpecker's nests where up to 70 birds can gather. Seeds becoming rare in June or July so they must go in fields to eat wheat.

Breeding
Although not new to aviculture in USA they are very scarce. None have been legally imported since the easy 1980's. Some of the early imports succumbed to death from fright and illness. They are not common in domestic aviaries any where in the world, and their reproduction is not as prolific as their cousins, Forpus coelestis (pacific).

Pairs are kept preferably alone in small aviaries. The nest is lined with a fine layer of squeezed turf or fine shavings that the birds can dig into a small hollow. This species lays their eggs and soon after hatching the parents sit around the chicks that are nestled in the hollow of the cavity, rather than sitting on them.

The clutch is made of 3 to 7 eggs incubated during about 22 days. The chicks are banded with 3.5 or 3.7 mm. At 8 to 10 days after hatch.

Food
Parrot basic mixture with bunches of millet, a lot of fruit and wild half-ripen seeds, sprouted seed, in addition to egg food during the reproduction season. Cuttlebone and water must be always available. Diets may have to be drastically modified as most dead birds necropsied are succumbing to a necrotic liver.

Mutation
There does not seem to be any up to now (2003). This is due to the small number presently bred and also being very careful not to inbreed.

A yellow bird has been located in Peru, but it died during its capture. We hope breeders will be wise enough not to hybridize them with mutated Forpus coelestis, and that only chance will produce mutated Forpus xanthops. In the US it is rumored that blue coelestes have been bred with some YF. The same for European YF in an attempt to produce a different color headed bird.

Conclusion
Since there is a fairly small number of these birds in US aviculture, I hope to be able to present my breeding experience with this wonderful species .

There have been attempts to start breeding cooperatives with this species but the breeders do not seem to want to cooperate in the trading of breeder birds in order to strengthen bloodlines.

In 2002 there had been at least 14 babies produced among three breeders. The stock in this country has been hidden behind a veil of secrecy for who knows what reason. Some say the stock was smuggled in. Some say the stock was affected with Avian TB and was deserted for fear of human sickness. Some simply wanted to covet the birds and never share the stock. For what ever reasons in the past two decades those days are now at an end and the Yellow-faced will be produced and sold in this country with pride.

Unfortunately the beginning breeders did not keep accurate records of parentage and that is something that has to be dealt with now. One parrotlet organization in the US had a consortium for Yellow-faced but never allowed anyone to become a part of the group. The original stock held in that group has since died.

The yellow-faced is now in the hands of dedicated breeders and it will prevail with a little time, lots of patience and a sharing that has to go beyond the dollars that can be made with this species.

They are a wonderful sweet bird that must be preserved in domestic breeding programs now or it will be lost to all of us forever.

The stock in Peru is still plentiful and chicks are sold for $7.00 on the streets. The governments of the two countries hopefully will get together soon and allow some new stock to be brought in so as to save this species in American Aviculture for years to come.

Resource Note
If you are reading this and happen to have yellow-faced and would like to participate in a breeding exchange or exchange of information please contact june@hideawayfarms.com . We want to hear from you.