Scarlet-fronted parakeet

The scarlet-fronted 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 (IOC) and BirdLife International's Handbook of the Birds of the World (HBW) 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 and the Clements taxonomy assign two others, P. w. frontatus (Cabanis, 1846) and P. w. minor (Carriker, 1933). The IOC and HBW treat them as the two subspecies of the cordilleran parakeet (P. frontatus).[4][7][8][9]

This article follows the two-subspecies model.

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.[10]

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, and in western Venezuela. Subspecies P. w. transilis is found in extreme eastern Colombia and in northern Venezuela from Falcón east to Sucre and Monagas.[10][9] The species inhabits a variety of landscapes including the edges of cloudforest, tropical deciduous forest, and gallery and secondary forest. It also occurs in fields, orchards, and parks in built-up areas. In elevation it ranges from 350 to 2,500 m (1,100 to 8,200 ft).[10][11]

The IUCN has assessed the scarlet-fronted parakeet as Near Threatened. It has a fragmented range; its population size is not known and is believed to be decreasing. The primary threats are "trapping pressure, persecution and habitat loss through land-use change."[1]