Red-fronted Parrotlet

How to find it

Costa Rican sources treat it as one of the harder parrots to see, and it is usually spotted flying in pairs or groups, so scan the sky as well as the canopy. Watch fruiting figs and other fruiting trees, even in the Central Valley and Caribbean lowlands, as a local guide advises. Clearings and forest edges are worth a look, since it sometimes flies over them and may be easier to see there. In Panama early morning is suggested as the best time, when small groups feed in the lower canopy. The old roads above the Cinchona cafe, up the steep driveway and to the left, are suggested for uncommon mid-elevation birds, and the parrotlet is a possible find there. At one pasture site people watch from a small hill for it flying past in the morning and late afternoon, though it is not seen on every visit.

How to recognise it

Look first for the bright red forehead and face. Then add the details:

A small, mostly green parrot, about 17 cm long.

A red patch at the bend of the wing.

A yellowish throat.

A short, squared tail.

Females show less red on the head and wings than males. Young birds show little or no red on the head, so a green parrotlet with a plain face may simply be a youngster.

In flight the underwings show yellow coverts, and the flight feathers look blackish with green edges. The tail is yellowish green with a black tip. A Costa Rican guide's rule of thumb is to look for a small, short-tailed parakeet with red and yellow in the wings and lots of red on the head. That combination points to this species.

Behaviour and diet

It is usually seen in pairs or small parties, perhaps families, and most often spotted in flight. It keeps to the middle and upper canopy and is wary and hard to approach. Groups roost together at night in larger numbers, then fly out to feeding areas at dawn.

It has been seen alongside Red-headed Barbet and Blue-and-gold Tanager, two birds of cool, wet mountain forest. Because it wanders up and down mountains looking for food, where you find it can change from one visit to the next.

Where it lives

In Costa Rica it lives in the canopy and at the edges of mountain forest, and it tolerates some habitat change. Across its range it moves with the seasons: in the dry season it uses wet, cool mountain forest up to about 3,000 m, and in the wet season it moves down to lower rainforest.

In Costa Rica it is regularly reported at 500 to 1,000 m in the wet season. It has also been recorded as high as 3,000 m, and sometimes down to sea level. Records come mainly from the central and southern highlands of the Caribbean slope, and it is more numerous there than on the Pacific slope.

When to see it

A Costa Rican birding guide says the parrotlets may roam more in June and July. Friends of a Costa Rican bird guide saw a small flock for a few days in June in a backyard near Heredia, probably wandering in search of fruiting trees after breeding.

Similar birds

Above 2,000 m in the Central or Talamanca ranges, small plain short-tailed Barred Parakeets could overlap with it. The parrotlet shows red and yellow in its plumage and lots of red on the head. It is closely related to the Blue-fronted Parrotlet of South America and Panama. Some authors have lumped the two, but most now split them because of consistent plumage differences.

Names and lore in Costa Rica

Other Spanish names listed for the bird are Cotorrita Costarricense, Lorito de Pecho Rojo and Periquito Frentirrojo. The AOCR name is Periquito Alirrojo.

Status and conservation

The AOCR list gives it as a resident regional endemic, and the IUCN lists it as Vulnerable with a decreasing population.

Photography tips

It keeps to the middle and upper canopy and is wary and hard to approach. It sometimes flies over clearings and forest edges, where it may be easier to see, so those open spots are the best bet for a photograph.