A lone, juvenile blue-crowned hanging parrot, Loriculus galgulus, was seen biting into the base of many Tabebuia rosea (rosy trumpet tree or pink poui, family Bignoniaceae) flower buds. The photographer believes that the parrot is taking bites out of the flower ovaries. As the photographs were taken from ~ 10 m away and no access to the tree was available, Wong Kais could not look for evidence of eaten flower buds on the ground. There have been records of the birds taking figs, flowers of Erythrina and Durio zibethinus (durian) and fleshy parts of oil palm fruits. They also feed on seeds and nectar. Read this post that lists the foods taken by various birds, including the blue-crowned hanging parrot.
The photos are all © to Wong Kais. 21 July 2017. The photo gallery below shows the parrot getting around the branches taking bites out of various flower buds of the Tabebuia tree. The other photos of the flowers and winged seeds were taken at other times.
Read the following posts: post 1, post 2 , post 3 , post 4 , post 5 , post 6, and post 7.
References:
- Handbook of the Birds of the World © 1996 Vol. 4
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue-crowned_hanging_parrot
Serangoon Gardens.
21 July 2017
