The scarlet-fronted parakeet (Psittacara wagleri), known in aviculture as the scarlet-fronted conure, red-fronted conure, or Wagler's conure, is a Near Threatened species of bird in subfamily Arinae of the family Psittacidae, the African and New World parrots. It is found in Colombia and Venezuela.
Taxonomy and systematics
The scarlet-fronted parakeet was for a time placed in the genus Aratinga but from about 2013 has been in its present genus Psittacara. Its taxonomy is otherwise unsettled. The International Ornithological Committee (IOC), BirdLife International's Handbook of the Birds of the World (HBW), and the Clements taxonomy assign it two subspecies, the nominate P. w. wagleri (G.R. Gray, 1845) and P. w. transilis (J.L. Peters, 1927). The American Ornithological Society assigns two others, P. w. frontatus (Cabanis, 1846) and P. w. minor (Carriker, 1933). The IOC, HBW, and Clements treat them as the two subspecies of the cordilleran parakeet (P. frontatus).
This article follows the two-subspecies model.
Description
The scarlet-fronted parakeet is 34 to 40 cm (13 to 16 in) long and weighs 162 to 217 g (5.7 to 7.7 oz). The sexes are alike. Adults are generally green that is yellower on the underparts; some have red speckles on their throat. Their English name comes from their red forehead and the front part of their crown. The undersides of their flight feathers and tail are olive-yellow. Their iris is pale gray surrounded by bare gray skin, their bill horn colored, and their legs and feet brownish. Subspecies P. w. transilis is overall somewhat smaller and darker than the nominate, and the red on its crown does not extend as far to the rear. Immature birds resemble adults but with less red on their head.
Distribution and habitat
The scarlet-fronted parakeet has a disjunct distribution. The nominate subspecies is found in the Colombian Andes, the isolated Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta in northern Colombia, in the Serranía del Perijá that straddles the Colombia/Venezuela border,...
