Sri Lanka Hanging-Parrot

Tiny, short-tailed, bright green parrot. Both sexes show red bill and red rump, while male also possesses a scarlet crown. Typically found in ones or twos in the canopy of forests in the Wet Zone, but also wooded areas outside of that zone. Confined to Sri Lanka, where the extremely small size and short tail make it easily identified from all other parrots on the island. Often given flight call is a metallic “zit-zit-zit”. Can also be given singly, as a drawn out “zeeet”.

Wooded country, groves, plantations, coconut groves and gardens up to 1250 m, reaching 1600 m in NE monsoon.

Sri Lanka Hanging Parrot is less gregarious than some of its relatives, and is usually alone or in small groups outside the breeding season. It undergoes local movements, driven mainly by the availability of the fruit, seeds, buds and blossoms that make up its diet. Sri Lanka Hanging Parrot is a bird of open forest.