Green-fronted Hanging Parrot 10 cm; 12 g. Similar to L. aurantiifrons but forehead green, throat patch orange-red, rump, and upper tail-coverts yellow; underside of tail pale blue.
Differs from sympatric Micropsitta pygmy-parrots in cleaner, brighter green plumage, more uniform tail pattern and in-flight appears longer-tailed and less dumpy.
Bill black, iris yellowish-white, and legs brownish yellow. Green-fronted Hanging-Parrot Female has forecrown and face tinged bluishly. The juvenile lacks an orange throat patch and has a pale brown bill.
Systematics History
Member of the L. stigmatus group (which see). Commonly treated as a race of L. aurantiifrons, but plumage distinctly different in several features, suggesting that species status is more appropriate. Monotypic.
Subspecies
Monotypic.
Distribution
Bismarck Archipelago (New Hanover, New Ireland, Duke of York I and New Britain).
Habitat
Forest and secondary growth, including partially cleared areas, along with coasts and in low hills. Principally occurs below 500 m, but recorded once at c. 900 m.
Movement
No information, other than the suggestion that the highest-altitude record might have involved a bird in transit between lowland sites.
Diet and Foraging
Virtually no information, but suspected to feed on flowers and small fruits, usually singly or in pairs, frequently hanging upside-down.
Sounds and Vocal Behavior
Repeated, high-pitched “tsip, tsip” or “tse, tse”, but lower-pitched and slower than Micropsitta pygmy-parrots; also longer, buzzing “tseee-up”.
Breeding
Virtually no information. Just one nest was found, in the stump of a palm Areca sp., in New Britain, in the local dry season (early year), but no further details were published.
Conservation Status
Not globally threatened. CITES II. Currently considered Near Threatened. Restricted-range species: confined to New Britain and New Ireland EBA. Generally considered uncommon or rare, but perhaps under-recorded, seasonally or locally hard to find.
