EPOW - Ecology Picture of the Week

Canary-winged (or White-winged) Parakeet (Brotogeris versicolurus),
sometimes Yellow-chevroned Parakeet (Brotogeris chiriri)
Porvenir Village, Upper Amazon Basin, Bolivia

Explanation:  Domesticated parrots and parakeets are common in many parts of the world, but it is unusual for this species and in this place.

This is a Canary-winged Parakeet (also called White-winged Parakeet, although this race lacks white along the yellow edging of the wing), locally known by its Spanish name Periquito Aliamarillo.  This is a wild bird brought into a tame relation -- that is, turned into a commensal with people.  

This parakeet is found along the Amazon River and some of its tributaries.  We are in a very remote corner of the Upper Amazon River Basin in northeastern Bolivia, close to the border with Brazil, in a tiny native village called Porvenir along the Rio Paragua, a distant tributary of the Amazon. 

Canary-winged Parakeets inhabit open forests and savannahs, as well as seasonally flooded forests and river islands.  This one has taken to a forest clearing here in the dense seasonal jungles of the Amazon, and is now a friend of a local villager .   

Information on taxonomy:  
     Some taxonomists have put this bird into its own species, the Yellow-chevroned Parakeet (Brotogeris chiriri) which has the yellow secondary covert feathers as shown here but lacks white on the primary feathers of the wing.  Taxonomy is still somewhat of a puzzle, however.