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Blue Headed Pionus
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Blue-headed
Pionus , pionus menstruus is about 28cm
(11inches) when adult size. The blue -headed
is by far the best known member of its genus. Adult
birds have the
head, neck and upper breast blue, of a rich, dark shade. The feathers
of the
throat are pink at the base, also on the outer edge in some feathers,
thus
producing an irregular pink patch.
The
feathers of the lower breast are green, tinged with brown and edged
with
blue. There is a bronze patch on the shoulders formed by the lesser and
median wing coverts, the primaries are blue on the outer webs.
The under tail coverts are scarlet and tipped with
green to form a
most unusual pattern. There
is
a large area of red at the base of each tail feather.
The outer webs of the outer tail feathers are blue.
The bill is dark gray with red markings at the base
of both
mandibles, iris is dark brown.
Immature
birds are much less colorful, the blue areas are
replaced by dull green until they each adult plumage at about one year
old.
At this age they will lose the red or orange fronted and which is
usually a
feature of immature plumage. This
species is difficult to sex. In
some individuals the male has the head and neck darker blue - but this
is
not a reliable guide.
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HABITAT
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| The
blue-head pionus has a very extensive distribution over
the greater part of tropical South America: from southern Costa Rica in
Central America, also Columbia, Venezuela and the Buianas south to
northern
Bolivia and central Brazil. It is also found in Trinidad.
It is common in many parts of its range and prefers
dense forest in
most localities. It
has a far
greater range than any other member of the genus, and is common and
widespread.
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NOISE
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| Blue-headed
Pionus’ are usually very quite birds.
They might learn to say a few words, but are not
known for their
talking ability. |
SOCIAL HABITS
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| Young
birds make delightful pets and they are very suitable for households
especially with children. Blue-heads are playful birds and may learn to
say
a few words. They
usually have
a gentle temperament and have excellent pet potential. When under
stress,
Pionus wheeze and gasp in a manner which is almost alarming to those
who do
not know what it signifies. If left alone (don’t treat as a
respiratory
disease) it will cease. |
CAGES
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- Although
Pionus are not real rambunctious,
they
still should have a fairly roomy cage.
24" x 20" would be the smallest you would want to
go, but a
34" x 24" would be much better.
That way you have lots of room to hang those toys,
and a snuggle bed.
They do not chew a lot on a cage, but a powder-coated cage would be an
excellent recommendation (with any bird). Suitable bar spacing would be
3/4
inch to 1 inch.
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DIET INFORMATION
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| The
best diet for any parrot such as the blue-head would be
pellets and lots of fresh fruits and vegetables. They are fond of pine
nuts
and some love peanuts. Carrot, celery, sweet corn, elderberries or
among
their favorite. With
a good
pellet diet additional vitamins are not necessary except maybe
spirulina.
Spirulina will enhance the color on your Pionus and
make those
brilliant colors even more vibrant.
There
are a lot of mixes
on the market today which will broadened a vegetable and
fruit diet. Seed
should be fed
only in small portions by hand, maybe when doing trick training or
“good-bird” offerings.
A
must with any parrot is a water bottle system.
This will provide fresh, clean water to your bird at
all times, even
when you aren’t home for a couple of days.
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MATURING
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| They
will usually reach maturity between 2 and 3 years of
age.
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BREEDING
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Be sure that
you have unrelated birds if you decide to
breed. They can
only be sexed
either by blood DNA sexing or surgically by a qualified vet. Pionus is breeding
condition can be aggressive.
Some mated pairs show little affect toward each
other. If they do,
mutual preening may become so aggressive that the head is stripped of
feathers. Aggression
is
demonstrated by flaring the tail, and walking along the perch with head
lowered and beak held against the perch.
A female will lay between 2 and 5 eggs, although
will usually raise 4
babies at the most.
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Animal & Insect Deterrents (6) 
