Parrot

Parrots (order Psittaciformes) are a group of birds with roughly 410 species alive today. This group of birds has a pantropical distribution, with the greatest diversity in tropical South America and Australia. They are among the most intelligent of birds, but they also have the highest extinction risk of any bird group with up to a third of all living species now threatened.

## Appearances in Dorling Kindersley Vision media

Parrots are the fourth most represented bird order in Dorling Kindersley Vision's programmes, with only birds of prey, shorebirds and perching birds having more species.

### See How They Grow

The Pets episode has one of its four segments about the life cycle of a budgerigar. The Jungle Animals episode contains a blue-and-yellow macaw, that appears in both the alligator and tiger segments.

### Eyewitness

A total of nine Eyewitness episodes have at least one species of parrot appear. The season with most episodes that include a parrot is Season Three, with four episodes. Season One has three episodes, while Season Two has just two episodes. It should be noted that macaws appear in the opening sequences of all three seasons of Eyewitness.

* **SEASON ONE:** Jungle, Bird, Skeleton
* **SEASON TWO:** Rock and Mineral, Prehistoric Life
* **SEASON THREE:** Flight, Island, Monster, Plant

Of these nine episodes, seven have only a single species of parrot appear in them. The only exceptions are Bird, with three species (the green-winged and scarlet macaws and the Fischer's lovebird) and Island, with four species (the Catalina macaw, Southern mealy amazon, collared lory and masked shining parrot).

Surprisingly few species of parrot appear solely in Eyewitness, and a few of those are studio species including the Southern mealy amazon and Catalina macaw (the only hybrid parrot to appear in Dorling Kindersley Vision). Other Eyewitness exclusives include the collared lory, coconut lorikeet and masked shining parrot.

### Amazing Animals

A total of eighteen Amazing Animals episodes have at least one species of parrot appear. The season with most episodes that include a parrot is Season Two, with seven episodes. Season Four has five episodes, Season Three has four episodes and Season One has just two episodes. It should be noted that a flock of macaws appears in the opening sequence of the shoe.

* **SEASON ONE:** Tropical Birds, Animal Appetites
* **SEASON TWO:** Scary Animals, Animal Colors, Animal Mothers, Animal Pets, Animal Families, Endangered Animals, Monkeys and Apes
* **SEASON THREE:** Animal Talk, Rainforest Animals, Animal Acrobats, Animal Neighbors
* **SEASON FOUR:** Around the World, Clever Animals, Animal Partners, Scaly Animals, Animal Flight

Notable parrot species that occur only in Amazing Animals include the kea, three species of cockatoo (this family of parrots only appears in Amazing Animals) and the red-lored and yellow-crowned amazon parrots.

As well as the real parrots, Amazing Animals also has a cartoon parrot, referred to as Parrot. It appears in cartoon segments in seasons one and three, and also appears in the opening sequence of every episode.

## Total species

A total of 21 species of parrot have appeared across all the Dorling Kindersley Vision series:

* Kea, *Nestor notabilis*
* Galah, *Eolophus roseicapilla*
* Moluccan cockatoo, *Cacatua moluccensis*
* Tanimbar corella, *Cacatua goffiniana*
* Blue-and-yellow macaw, *Ara ararauna*
* Green-winged macaw, *Ara chloroptera*
* Scarlet macaw, *Ara macao*
* Military macaw, *Ara militaris*
* Catalina macaw, *Ara ararauna* × *A. macao*
* Red-bellied macaw, *Orthopsittaca manilatus*
* Green-cheeked parakeet, *Pyrrhura molinae*
* Red-lored amazon parrot, *Amazona autumnalis*
* Yellow-crowned amazon parrot, *Amazona ochrocephala*
* Southern mealy amazon parrot, *Amazona farinosa*
* Fischer's lovebird, *Agapornis fischeri*
* Peach-faced lovebird, *Agapornis roseicollis*
* Collared lory, *Vini solitaria*
* Coconut lorikeet, *Trichoglossus haematodus*
* Budgerigar, *Melopsittacus undulatus*
* Bourke's parrot, *Neopsephotus bourkii*
* Masked shining parrot, *Prosopeia personata*