About Eclectus Parrots

Pet owners all over the world love parrots because they are social and intelligent birds, and because they can learn how to talk, depending on the breed of parrot. One of the more exotic parrot breeds is the Eclectus parrot. The Eclectus is a popular choice for a pet bird for several reasons, including its keen intelligence and other very unique idiosyncrasies.

  1. Name

    • The name Eclectus comes from the word eclectic. This is because Eclectus parrots possess what is called a sexually dimorphic color scheme, which is unique to the breed. Dimorphic means that the male and the female possess different color schemes, in the same breed.

    Origins

    • The Eclectus parrot breed, including all of its estimated dozen subspecies, hail from Australia, Indonesia and New Guinea. They can also be found naturally on the Solomon Islands.

    Vocabulary

    • The Eclectus parrot is one of the top three talking parrot breeds in the world, rivaling the Amazon and African Grey parrot breeds. Not only are Eclectus parrots known to mimic voices of the humans around them, but they are amazing ventriloquists and have been known to mimic doorbells and other random sounds.

    Colors

    • The Eclectus parrot has several different subspecies of its genus and therefore can display an array of different colors. Commonly, however, males will vary from light yellow-green to deep emerald green, while the females vary from bright blue to lavender.

    Behavior

    • In the wild, Eclectus parrots are high-flying birds that spend a lot of the time stretching out their wings and exercising. In captivity, they can develop bad habits, like chewing on furniture, due to the boredom that comes from not being able to stretch out and fly.

    Diet

    • Eclectus parrots enjoy a diet of fruits, nuts, seeds and blossoms in the wild, most of which they find in treetops during flight. In captivity they enjoy the same diet of fresh fruits and seed feed, but domestic parrots can also develop a liking for human foods.

    Reproduction

    • Female Eclectus parrots ordinarily lay two eggs at a time and rarely leave their nest for the 28 days needed to incubate the young. The male Eclectus takes on the responsibility of feeding the female while she broods.