Marley Rusty-faced parrot

A beautiful short-tailed parrot of high elevations in the Andes of Colombia and Venezuela. Mostly green body with a rusty face, orange-brown or yellowish-green chest, red shoulder, blue primaries, and red tail with a blue tip. Sexes similar. Rare, in pairs or small groups flying, perched, or eating in the canopy at high elevations of the cloud forest. Calls in flight are loud and metallic. No similar species.

Rusty-faced Parrots are gregarious, chatty birds that travel in pairs or flocks of up to 25 people. They are like other members of their tribe. They search the branches for fruit, blooms, and seeds.

On the mossy tree boughs in the Rusty-faced Parrot’s cloud forest habitat, bromeliads are abundant. The birds come to sip the rainwater gathered in the hollow centers of the epiphytic plants. Marley Rusty-faced parrot

Three different subspecies of this species, which has a small range, exist in the Andes of Colombia and Venezuela, each having a distinct geographic distribution. The color of the head and breast, which varies from dull orange-rust in two subspecies to peach in the most vivid one, is the most noticeable distinction between the subspecies.

The lores (the area between the eye and the bill) are yellow, the underwings are blue with some splashes towards the shoulders, the tail is red with a violet tip, and the shoulder patches are brighter scarlets that flash in flight.

The biggest hazard to this species is habitat loss. Fortunately, more people are able to view and learn about these uncommon birds as it becomes safer to go across Colombia’s Andes.