Family Psittacidae
White-crowned Parrot
Pionus senilis
In Spanish: Loro Coroniblanco (Cotorra, Chucuyo)
- Resident
A dark, noisy parrot with a white cap, seen in flocks over lowland edges.
The White-crowned Parrot is a small, dark parrot, about 24 cm long, with a white cap and throat, a pale bill and red under the tail. In Costa Rica it is a common to abundant resident in the Caribbean lowlands and foothills, and it is the country's most abundant stronghold for the species anywhere in its range.
On a trip we build, you are most likely to meet it as a noisy flock passing overhead at a forest edge. Then you scan the treetops, where the birds sit quietly and blend in.
How to find it
Listen for noisy flocks overhead, then scan the treetops. Perched birds are hard to spot because they are well camouflaged and quiet. Forest edges are a good place to start, because the loud flight call makes it easy to notice. Flocks of up to 20 birds visit gardens near Turrialba, and a tall palm is worth checking for a bird resting on a frond.
How to recognise it
Look for a small, dark parrot about 24 cm long with a white cap and throat, a pale bill and eye ring, and red under the tail. The adult male has a dull dark blue head, neck and chest with a green belly. In females the blue reaches only the upper chest. Young birds are green with pale edges on the cap feathers and little or no blue on the head, and adults usually accompany them. The white crown does not always show well, even on adults. In flight the pale bill and white crown can often be seen, and blue underwings and red under the tail flash as it passes.
What it sounds like
Recording: Arturo Benavides-Mendoza, CC BY 4.0, source, read 4 Nov 2026.
Behaviour and diet
This is a very sociable parrot. Flocks can reach 30 to 50 birds, especially after the breeding season. Its flight is fast and erratic with deep wingbeats. When feeding it walks slowly and quietly and rarely flutters along branches. It often rests on the unopened frond of a tall palm. It nests in tree cavities, probably preferring a hollow palm trunk, and adults feed their young by regurgitation.
Where it lives
It lives in the canopy and edges of forest, old secondary forest, cacao and peach palm plantations, and farmland with scattered forest patches. It lives mainly in the lowlands and reaches roughly 1,600 m locally in Costa Rica. It also turns up on the edges of towns. It is common in the Caribbean lowlands and foothills, on the southern Pacific slope north to Carara National Park, and in the northern Pacific lowlands at least to Lomas Barbudal Biological Reserve.
When to see it
Breeding in Costa Rica is given as January to April. Flocks gather after breeding, and some local, apparently vertical, movements occur. Birds have also shown up in Central Valley gardens after breeding, for example a small flock for a few days in June near Heredia.
Similar birds
The Blue-headed Parrot replaces it further south, mostly around the Golfo Dulce and southeastern lowlands, and can reach north to Sarapiqui. It flies with the same deep wingbeats but has a darker head and bill and sharper, more abrupt calls. The Brown-hooded Parrot has a brown head, no white crown and no red under the tail, and it has rapid wingbeats.
Names and lore in Costa Rica
The official Spanish name is Loro Coroniblanco, and the AOCR list also gives cotorra. Around Turrialba, locals call it chucuyo rather than loro. Loro means parrot in standard Spanish, while lora is a large green snake in that area.
Status and conservation
The AOCR list marks it as a resident (R), and the IUCN lists it as Least Concern as assessed in 2022, though its population is decreasing.
Photography tips
Watch tall palms, where it often rests on the unopened frond. It moves slowly and quietly while feeding, which helps once you have found it. One bird was photographed in bright sun above La Muralla waterfall near Turrialba.
How we know this 16 sources, each read on the date shown
- Aves de Costa Rica read 2026-11-04
https://avesdecostarica.com/Pionus-senilis.html - Birds for Beer read 2026-11-04
https://birdsforbeer.com/2020/05/25/in-my-costa-rican-garden-white-crowned-parrot/ - Mascotarios read 2026-11-04
https://www.mascotarios.org/en/loro-senil/ - Birda read 2026-11-04
https://app.birda.org/species-guide/13122/White-crowned_Parrot - Oiseaux.net read 2026-11-04
https://www.oiseaux.net/en/photos/herve.michel/white-crowned.parrot.1.html - EcoRegistros read 2026-11-04
http://www.ecoregistros.org/ficha/Pionus-senilis - World Parrot Trust read 2026-11-04
https://parrots.org/encyclopedia/white-crowned-parrot/ - IUCN Red List read 2026-11-04
https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/22686192/140712160 - Wikipedia read 2026-11-04
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White-crowned_parrot - Birding Craft read 2026-11-04
https://birdingcraft.com/wordpress/2010/11/01/tips-on-parrot-identification-when-birding-costa-rica/ - Birding Craft read 2026-11-04
https://birdingcraft.com/wordpress/tag/white-crowned-parrot/ - Costa Rica Vibes read 2026-11-04
https://www.costaricavibes.com/parrots/ - Copa de Arbol read 2026-11-04
https://www.copadearbol.com/parrots-costa-rica/ - Ecos del Bosque read 2026-11-04
https://ecosdelbosque.com/fauna/pionus-senilis - Kiddle (Wikipedia-based) read 2026-11-04
https://kids.kiddle.co/White-crowned_parrot - Flickr (text from Aves de Costa Rica) read 2026-11-04
https://www.flickr.com/photos/jobando/27825617793