Parrots or pirates?
IT was one autumnal day, as a seven-year-old, that I finished reading Robert Louis Stevenson’s famous book ‘Treasure Island’, in which I was fascinated with Long John Silver – the pirate who limped around on his wooden leg with a parrot on his shoulder. Later that late afternoon, my father took me to see my first rugby match in which two England players were representing my home county of Cornwall versus an International XV.
At my father’s request I was to look out for the England players, John KendallCarpenter and Vic Roberts. Little did I know then that the former was to be my boss 29 years later when I was appointed as his deputy headmaster at a Somerset school, when he became president of the Steering Committee of the first Rugby World Cup. In fact, he has since been acclaimed as the ‘Founding Father’ of this now much sought after worldwide trophy.
The rugby match was played at the home ground of the local Penzance-Newlyn side known appropriately as the ‘Pirates’. At the end of the game, as we walked home, we passed the conservatory of property which housed, a caged, large macaw parrot. We quietly looked through the open door to be surprised to hear it squeak, “I’m a pirate, clever boy!”
My innocent fascination for such a bird was later revealed when my mother asked me about the rugby result. I could not remember, and I blurted out, “The parrot was fantastic, and it had such beautiful colours!” I had to wait another 46 years before I saw parrots in the wild while boating down the Kinabatangan River in Sabah.
There are several hundred species of parrot globally and I shall focus on only two familiar ones found in Sabah and Sarawak, the blue-crowned hanging parrot and the longtailed parakeet.
Blue-crowned hanging parrot Found throughout Malaysia, Southern Thailand, and most of Indonesia, this species of parrot (Loriculus galgulus) derived its Latin name from ‘gangulus’, meaning hanging from its feet, which is precisely what it does when sleeping at night on its roost. It dangles on one or two feet and tucks its head under a wing resembling a leaf in a tree’s foliage.
Its plumage is mostly green of various shades. The blue top of its crown is skullcap shaped and its breast and top of its tail are coloured red. With a black beak and greyish-green f eel it is easily recognisable. A relatively small parrot with a length of 12cm and weighing only 28 grammes, it has a lifespan of up to 14 years.
Habitat and diet
Found in lowland forest, swamps, river edge forest, and coconut groves and plantations, it has a penchant for papaya and rambutan but also supplements its diet with palm oil nuts, figs, seeds, nectar, and fresh durian flowers.
Nesting and breeding
This parrot bonds with a partner during the breeding season from January to July, nesting in live or dead tree hollows or tree stumps. The nest is composed of tree bark, bracken fronds, and is lined with feathers in which a clutch of three to four oval eggs are laid at two-day intervals.
The incubation period is about three weeks and 35 days after hatching the fledgelings take off for good. There is little concern for the future of this species other than for capture and the illegal pet trade. This bird is distinguished by its high pitched, buzzy, and far carrying call of d-z- z-z-eeee, which it frequently uses when returning to its nocturnal roost at dusk.
Long-tailed parakeet
Known locally by its Malay name ‘burung bayan nuri’, its official name Psittlacula longicauda is derived from the Latin ‘longus’ meaning long and ‘cauda’ a tail. About 42cm long from head to tail and weighing 125 grammes, it is a larger member of the parrot family. Mainly green with a long blue tail and lower wing feathers, the male sports a black cap and red face. The female is without a black cap and has less red.
Both genders have a strange mix of colours with lighter blue patches on their upper head and reddish-orange beaks. These birds are most adept tree climbers using their beaks as gripping tools.
Habitat and nesting
Found in lowland evergreen forests, swamps, oil palm plantations, and coconut groves at heights above 300 metres, it is even found today in public parks. Breeding takes place between December and February when a clutch of two to four eggs is laid. These take up to 24 days to incubate before the chicks appear. These become fully fledged within 70 days.
Feeding by day on a diet consisting of papaya, areca nuts, and fresh wild fruit, flocks of thousands have been seen in Borneo as they return at dusk to their nocturnal communal roosts. Their calls have been described as a ‘strident screech’.
Threats to their very existence
The log-tailed parakeet faces a threefold threat; that of deforestation, illegal logging, and the illegal pet trade in all regions of Southeast Asia. Whilst I have only touched on two of the main species of Malaysian parrots, I hope that you will enjoy looking out for these birds in the wild and appreciate their flamboyant colourations.
The caged macaw I saw as a boy certainly enraptured my imagination in these fascinating and agile birds together with their mimicry. Seventy years later I am still confused by the mimicry of that first parrot I ever saw! Was my interpretation of what it uttered correct? Pirate or parrot?