Parrotfinches are small, colourful passerine birds belonging to the genus Erythrura in the family Estrildidae, the estrildid finches. They occur from South-east Asia to New Guinea, and many Pacific Islands. They inhabit forest, bamboo thickets and grassland and some can be found in man-made habitats such as farmland, parks and gardens. Several species are commonly kept as cagebirds.
They are 9 to 15 cm long. The plumage is usually mainly green. Most species have blue or red markings on the head and a red rump and tail. The tail is pointed and often fairly long.
Seeds, especially those of grasses, comprise the bulk of the diet. Some parrotfinches also feed on fruit and small insects. Many species forage in flocks, keeping in contact with high-pitched calls.
Three species, the green-faced, royal and pink-billed parrotfinches, are classed as vulnerable to extinction because of habitat loss and degradation.
The genus Erythrura was introduced in 1837 by the English naturalist William Swainson to accommodate the pin-tailed parrotfinch. Swainson misspelled the genus name as "Erythura".[1] [2] The name combines the Ancient Greek eruthros meaning "red" with -ouros meaning "-tailed".[3] The genus Erythrura is sister to the Gouldian finch which is placed in its own genus Chloebia and together the two genera form the subfamily Erythrurinae.[4]
The cladogram shown below is based on a molecular phylogenetic study of the Erythrura parrotfinches published in 2023. The Papuan parrotfinch (E. papuana) was found to embedded within the broadly distributed blue-faced parrotfinch (E. trichroa).[5]
The genus contains 12 species.[6]
| Image | Scientific name | Common Name | Distribution |
|---|---|---|---|
| Erythrura prasina | Malaysia, Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Burma, Vietnam, Thailand and China | ||
| Erythrura viridifacies | northern Philippines, around Luzon, Negros and Panay | ||
| Tawny-breasted parrotfinch or green-tailed parrotfinch | Erythrura hyperythra | Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines | |
| Erythrura psittacea | New Caledonia | ||
| Fiji parrotfinch (split from red-headed parrotfinch) | Erythrura pealii | Fiji (Viti Levu, Vanua Levu, Taveuni and Kadavu) | |
| Royal parrotfinch (split from red-headed parrotfinch) | Erythrura regia | Vanuatu | |
| Erythrura cyaneovirens | Samoan Islands | ||
| Pink-billed parrotfinch | Erythrura kleinschmidti | Viti Levu, Fiji | |
| Tricolored parrotfinch or three-coloured parrotfinch | Erythrura tricolor | Timor and the southern Moluccas | |
| Red-eared parrotfinch or Mount Katanglad parrotfinch | Erythrura coloria | Mindanao in the Philippines | |
| Erythrura papuana | New Guinea | ||
| Erythrura trichroa | north-eastern Australia, Japan, Indonesia, Federated States of Micronesia, France (introduced), New Caledonia, Palau, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands and Vanuatu | ||