Cool Facts About The Brown Headed Parrot

• Characterized by a green body with yellow on the undersides of its wings, the Brown Headed Parrot possesses a lighter, greyish-brown head that fades into the green color on the rest of the body.
  
• A gregarious species, Brown Headed Parrots live in flocks that contain between 10 and 50 individual birds, and they congregate around a food source
• They excel at mimicking sounds and whistles even though their speech mimicry is not as strong.
• Because they are relatively quiet for a parrot species, Brown Headed Parrots have become popular pets.

Where To Find The Brown Headed Parrot

There are three subspecies of Brown Headed Parrot, each found in a different part of Africa.  The subspecies most often referred to quite simply as the Brown Headed Parrot is found in eastern South Africa and Mozambique.  The Zanzibar Brown Headed Parrot lives in Zanzibar and Pemba Island, and the Tansanian Brown Headed Parrot is found in Mozambique and Kenya.  All three subspecies live in woodland areas with large, tall trees where they can roost and satisfy their dietary needs.  However, they avoid open areas and wooded habitats that are too dense. I guess they are looking for that “perfect” habitat…kind of like Goldilocks, only she wanted the perfect soup.

A Helpful Mate

Brown Headed Parrots reach sexual maturity at the age of two but usually do not breed for the first time until the age of three or four.  Winter breeding is the most common, but some birds will breed year round, producing two to three clutches each year.  Nest sites composed of tree cavities, which are often old woodpecker holes.  Females lay between two and four eggs and are the sole incubators while the males fetch food for their mates.  Incubation lasts roughly 20 to 30 days, and chicks fledge at around 50 days.

The young parrots remain with their parents for an additional four weeks after fledging.  During their time in the nest, the chicks are always attended by their mother while their father continues hunting to provide for both his mates and all of the chicks.  Brown Headed Parrots have a life expectancy between 20 and 25 years. These birds must be doing something right since that is a pretty long life-span…for a bird.