The inner webs of the innermost secondary wing feathers are tipped with red and this is found on only one other parrot in Australia and that is the fig parrot!! Hybrid between the Swift Parrot and Red-rumped Parrot Poorly coloured males can be confused with females but if the bird has no wing stripe or only a few spots making the stripe then it is most likely to be a male. Adult females retain the wing stripe and personally I use this as a guide to the sex of a particular bird as I have never seen an adult female without a wing stripe. I have bred young birds which have shown no sign of a stripe whatever and these have always been males. Most young males (still in the nest ) will show a stripe but usually not quite as prominent as young females. Some retain a few spots for all their lives but this is in my opinion uncommon. This brings me to the confusing wing stripe!! Most adult males lose the wing stripe somewhere after the age of two but some take longer. The secondary coverts are a lighter turquoise tending to dark blue on the primary coverts. The primary wing feathers are a dark purplish blue with their outer and inner edges a pale whitish yellow. Birds with no red flecking also have red under tail coverts but usually the feathers are red tipped with yellow.The shoulder is a deep crimson and the underwing coverts are bright scarlet. The under tail coverts also vary considerably with birds who show red flecking usually having all red coverts. Some birds will show red flecking to varying degrees on the lower breast and belly from hardly any to in extreme cases almost all the lower abdomen is red. Swift Parrots are kept also in several mutations The underparts are a much lighter and more yellowish green. On the crown there is a dark blue spot usually about the size of a five cent piece, the sides of the face are green washed with blue and the nape, mantle and back are dark green. Basically the forehead above the cere is bright red as is the face. There is quite a variation in colour in swift parrots and I will try to describe each to the best of my ability.Īdult males over three years of age are usually fairly uniform in colour but there are some exceptions. The point of the matter is that not all swift parrots are the same size and this is the reason why. So in a mixed flock (males, females and juveniles) there would be considerable size differences. Comparisons between one year old birds and five year old birds show a marked difference and although this is true of most parrots it seems to be more noticeable in the swift. The swift parrot ( Lathamus discolor) does not in my opinion attain full size until at least 3 years of age, probably longer. Read also the first part of this article: Swift Parrot breeding in Australia.
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