blue-crowned lorikeet
{{Short description|Species of bird}}
{{speciesbox
|name = Blue-crowned lorikeet
|image = Vini australis -London Zoo, England-8a.jpg
|status = LC
|status_system = IUCN3.1
|genus = Vini
|species = australis
|authority = (Gmelin, JF, 1788)
}}
The blue-crowned lorikeet (Vini australis), also known as the blue-crowned lory, blue-crested lory, Solomon lory or Samoan lory, is a parrot found throughout the Lau Islands (Fiji), Tonga, Samoa, Niue and adjacent islands, including: ʻAlofi, Fotuhaʻa, Fulago, Futuna, Haʻafeva, Niuafoʻou, Moce, Niue, Ofu, Olosega, Samoa, Savaiʻi, Tafahi, Taʻu, Tofua, Tonga, Tungua, ʻUiha, ʻUpolu, Varoa, Vavaʻu, and Voleva. It is a 19 cm green lorikeet with a red throat, blue crown, and belly patch shading from red at the top to purple at the bottom.
Taxonomy
The blue-crowned lorikeet was formally described in 1788 by the German naturalist Johann Friedrich Gmelin in his revised and expanded edition of Carl Linnaeus's Systema Naturae. He placed it with all the other parrots in the genus Psittacus and coined the binomial name Psittacus australis.{{ cite book | last=Gmelin | first=Johann Friedrich | author-link=Johann Friedrich Gmelin| year=1788 | title=Systema naturae per regna tria naturae : secundum classes, ordines, genera, species, cum characteribus, differentiis, synonymis, locis | edition=13th | volume=1, Part 1 | language=Latin | location=Lipsiae [Leipzig] | publisher=Georg. Emanuel. Beer | page= | url=http://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/25751671 }} Gmelin based his description on the "Blue crested parrakeet" that had been described in 1781 by the English ornithologist John Latham in his A General Synopsis of Birds. Latham believed that his specimen had come from Hawaii (Sandwich Islands) but this was an error; the specimen had come from the Samoan Islands.{{cite book| last=Latham | first=John | year=1781–1785 | author-link=John Latham (ornithologist) | title=A General Synopsis of Birds | volume=1, Part 1 | page=315, No. 121 | location=London | publisher= Printed for Benj. White | url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/33727833 }}{{ cite book | editor-last=Peters | editor-first=James Lee | editor-link=James L. Peters | year=1937 | title=Check-List of Birds of the World | volume=3 | publisher=Harvard University Press | place=Cambridge, Massachusetts | page=156 | url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/14477871 }} The blue-crowned lorikeet is now placed in the genus Vini that was introduced in 1833 by the French naturalist René Lesson.{{ cite book | last=Lesson | first=René P. | author-link=René Lesson | year=1833 | title=Illustrations de zoologie, ou, Recueil de figures d'animaux peintes d'après nature | language=French | location=Paris | publisher=Arthus Bertrand | at=Plate 28 and text, livraison 10 | url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/28723711 }} For the publication date see: {{ cite book | last1=Dickinson | first1=E.C. | author1-link=Edward C. Dickinson | last2=Overstreet | first2=L.K. | last3=Dowsett | first3=R.J. | last4=Bruce | first4=M.D. | year=2011 | title=Priority! The Dating of Scientific Names in Ornithology: a Directory to the literature and its reviewers | location=Northampton, UK | publisher=Aves Press | isbn=978-0-9568611-1-5 | page=121 | url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/267763194 | ref=none }} The genus name is the Tahitian word for a local bird.{{cite dictionary|title=Vini|url=https://archive.org/stream/tahitianenglishd00davirich#page/314/mode/1up/ |year=1851 |publisher=London Missionary Society's Press |location=Tahiti |dictionary=A Tahitian and English Dictionary |page=314|quote=the name of a small paroquet|author=[Davies, John]}}{{cite dictionary|title=Vini|year=2002|publisher=Māʻohi Heritage Press|location=Honolulu|dictionary=English-Tahitian Tahitian-English Dictionary |last=Wahlroos |first=Sven |page=684|quote=(1) Tahiti parakeet; (2) small birds of various species imported to Tahiti}}
It is still common, but declining on some islands, apparently from predation by rats. They frequent areas with flowering trees, including coconut plantations and gardens, usually in small flocks of less than about 15 individuals or in pairs during breeding season. It eats nectar, pollen and soft fruits, especially wild hibiscus and coconut. The blue-crowned lory nests in holes in trees, but may also dig burrows in earth banks.
References
{{Reflist}}
==Further reading==
- Juniper & Parr (1998) Parrots: A Guide to Parrots of the World; {{ISBN|0-300-07453-0}}.
- Forshaw (2006) Parrots of the World: An Identification Guide; {{ISBN|0-691-09251-6}}.
{{Lories and lorikeets}}
{{Taxonbar|from=Q782949}}