First nesting records of the endemic slender-billed parakeet (Enicognathus leptorhynchus) in Southern Chile

Abstract

We report the first data on nesting ecology of the Slender-billed Parakeet (Enicognathus leptorhynchus) from two wild nests in native temperate rainforests of southern Chile. Nests were located in natural cavities 19 m up in emergent trees. Posture reached up to ten eggs and clutched four and five nestlings, respectively. Incubation period extended around 30 days, and nestling period around 40 days. Nestlings presented mass recession before fledging and finished their development once out of the nest. They exhibited two successive downs before feather emergence, a similar pattern shared with species from high-elevated mountains in tropical Andes. This may be a strategy, for psittacines inhabiting cooler regions, to overcome low temperatures while in the nest. Our study points out the necessity to collect additional information on breeding biology in the wild for this and other southern temperate psittacines. © The Neotropical Ornithological Society.