Pacific parakeet

The Pacific parakeet was for a time placed in the genus Aratinga but from about 2013 has been in its present genus Psittacara.[5][6][4] Its taxonomy is otherwise unsettled. The International Ornithological Committee, the American Ornithological Society, and the Clements taxonomy treat it as a full, monotypic, species.[4][7][8] BirdLife International's Handbook of the Birds of the World (HBW) considers it to be a subspecies of the green parakeet (P. holochlorus).[2]

Pacific parakeet in flight

The Pacific parakeet is about 32 cm (13 in) long. The sexes are alike. Adults are generally olive green that is slightly yellowish on the underparts; some have red speckles on their neck. The undersides of their flight feathers and tail are olive-yellow. Their iris is orange-red surrounded by bare pale beige skin, their bill horn colored, and their legs and feet brownish.[9][10]

The Pacific parakeet is found on the Pacific slope from southern Mexico's Oaxaca state south through Guatemala, El Salvador, and Honduras into central Nicaragua. It inhabits a variety of woodland landscapes including deciduous, semi-deciduous, and evergreen; gallery forest; swamp forest; and arid scrublands. It also occurs in upland pine-oak forest and in urban parks and gardens. In elevation it ranges from sea level to 2,600 m (8,500 ft).[9][10]

The IUCN follows HBW taxonomy and so includes the Pacific parakeet in its assessment of the green parakeet as being of Least Concern. It has estimated that the combined population numbers about 200,000 mature individuals and is decreasing. No immediate threats have been identified.[11] It is thought to be fairly numerous in parts of its range and occurs in at least two protected areas.[10]