African Gray Natural Habitat

The African Grey parrot is a popular exotic pet. They are extremely smart birds that can be trained to complete simple tasks and can even learn to talk. Because of the bird's increasing popularity, the African Grey's numbers in the wild are dwindling. According to Bird Life International, the African Grey falls into the Near Threatened category on the endangered species list because nearly 21 percent of the bird's population is harvested ever year for domestic use, and more and more of its habitat is destroyed every year.

Regional Populations

The African Grey, or Psittacus erithacus, inhabits mainly the area from Guinea-Bissau east to the lowland forests of West Africa to Cameroon. They also reside in the Congo forests to east of the Albertine Rift up to Lake Victoria, in Uganda, Kenya and Northern Angola. According to Bird Life International, the population of the African Grey in those areas ranges from 680,000 to 13 million, but it is hard to get a solid read with the moving population and excessive bird trapping. The Areas with the largest visible population deficit include Burundi, Cameroon, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Kenya, Liberia, Nigeria, Rwanda, São Tomé and Príncipe, Sierra Leone, Togo, Uganda and Congo.

Environment

African Greys tend to inhabit dense, low-lying forest regions, although they are commonly found at forest edges, clearings, mangroves, wooded savannahs, cultivated areas, and even suburban gardens. It is not known whether or not these populations outside the dense forest regions are self-sustaining populations. In West Africa, the birds move seasonally to escape the driest areas, but they do not travel over expansive distances between isolated forest regions.

Perching

Grey Parrot flocks travel in the thousands and traditionally make their home in river valleys, roosting high in trees over rivers, far from their feeding areas. In other areas the flocks are not as expansive, but it is common to find up to 100 birds roosting in one tree. They have a preference for perching at the tops of tress, and are especially fond of perching on the fronds of oil palms. During their perch time, African Greys communicate through a series of high-pitched shrieks and whistles, and these calls are heard most commonly in the morning and in the evening.

Diet and Eating Habits

African Grey's feed on seeds, nuts, fruits and berries from the treetops where they perch. They use their strong beaks to climb from branch to branch and collect food, and then hold the food in their claws to eat it. They tend to eat the oily outer flesh of oil palm nuts and the red fruits of the Cola tragacantha. It is also common for them to eat the grain and maize crops of local farmers, causing immense damage. It has become especially difficult for farmers to stop the birds from damaging their crops.

Mating and Chicks

African Grey parrots are a monogamous species, and while little is known about their wild courtship rituals, display flights have been documented near nesting areas. The breeding season seems to vary year to year, but courting couples each nest in their own tree. In captivity, when a couple is a mating, the male tends to feed the female and both birds do a ritualistic dance with their wings lowered. The female lays one to four eggs, and incubates them on her own. Nesting materials are not gathered, as the female lays the eggs in the wood dust at the bottom of a nesting hole inside a tree. Both parents care for the chicks for about four months.

References

• Birdlife International
• Honolulu Zoo