Blue-naped Parrot eating sea almond fruits and flowers

Posted by BESG on 18 April 09, Saturday
Contributed by GS Soh

GS Soh photographed a Blue-naped Parrot (Tanygnathus lucionensis) in Tanjong Aru, Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia in March 2009. The parrot was gnawing at the unripe fruits of the sea almond (Terminalia catappa) to get at the seeds. It also took young inflorescence stalks.

This parrot is found in Palawan and the Philippines, reaching a few islands off Borneo. Its occurrence in Tanjong Aru has been suggested to originate from escapes (Smythies, 1999).

It feeds basically on plants – fruits bark, leaves, flowers and buds. As for sea almond, the Blue-naped Parrot has been reported to take young leaves and fruits, but not young flowering inflorescence.

Reference:
Smythies, B. E., 1999. Birds of Borneo. Natural History Publications & The Sabah Society, Kota Kinabalu. (4th ed., revised). 853 pp.

This post is a cooperative effort between NaturePixels.org and BESG to bring the study of bird behaviour through photography to a wider audience.

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Categories: Feeding-plants, Parrots

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