Dusky Parrot / Bruin Margrietje

Dusky Parrot (Pionus fuscus)

Pictures (click on them to enlarge)
© Dennis Binda	© Dennis Binda	© Dominiek Plouvier
© Ton Plug	© Serano Ramcharan	French Guiana © Pascal Dubois

The Dusky Parrot is a common sight in Suriname, especially in the forests of the interior. It is less common than its cousin the Blue-headed parrot and like this one it is mostly seen in flying overhead and calling, in pairs or small groups. It eats fruit and seeds, silently in treetops. The sound of the dusky parrot was taped by Ribot in 1984.
Two photos of a Dusky Parrot were made by Dennis Binda in Suriname. The third picture was made by Dominiek Plouvier near Paramaribo, where you see a Dusky parrot eating a Jamu (Eugenia jambos of Szygium jambos, Malabar Plum, champakka, chom pu or chom-phu), a juicy purple fruit originating from India and planted everywhere around parcels. Below the text a photo made by Pascal Dubois in French Guyane (Côté Nature).
Dominiek Plouvier made a video of a Dusky Parrot.

Birdsounds (click on them to listen)
Sound recording of a Dusky Parrot © Otte Ottema, bird guide

Video (click the link or the 'play'-button to see)
Video recording of a Dusky Parrot © ;

Distribution

Each small square indicates the observation of at least one (group) of these birds, the medium ones at least four observations on different days and the largest ones ten or more. The color of each square indicates: blue for coastal area, yellow for savanna and red for rainforest.
Not all places in Suriname have been equally often visited by birders, so the distribution of the squares gives an indication of the whereabouts of the birds, but also of the birders. Some places deep in the south have no reported bird observations, by experienced birders, within 60 kilometer.

Abundance in different areas
coastal zone (blue dots on the map) :
northern savannas (yellow dots (in the north)) :
rainforest under 400 m (red dots) :
rainforest above 400 m (red dots) :
Sipaliwini savanna (yellow dots (in the south)) :
A blank is shown if not convincingly reported in the zone. Data interpreted by Arie Spaans, Otte Ottema and Jan Hein Ribot.

Names
Scientific name:	Pionus fuscus
Order:	Psittaciformes
Family:	Psittacidae, 27 in Suriname
Dutch:	Bruin Margrietje
English:	Dusky Parrot
Sranan ('Surinamese'):	Broin-magriki / Kene / Basrafransmadam /
Guyana:
Papiamento:
Spanish (Venezuela):	Cottora Morada
Portugese (Brazil):	Maitaca-roxa
Arowak:
Carib:
French:	Pione violette

Observations through the year	Observations of breeding through the year

The 433 reported observations of this bird in Suriname, mainly for the last 50 years up to 2018, have been grouped by month. More birds on one day are counted as one observation. Of course, if the graph should depict the total number of birds seen, the differences between the months could be much more pronounced.	The reported breeding observations of this bird in Suriname. Most observations are about nest with eggs, some about fledglings, or feeding at a nest or the building of a nest. Of the about 5000 nests and eggs found for all species together, about 1/3 comes from the egg collection of Penard between 1896 and 1905. For some reason most collecting then was done in the first half of each year, so the shown distribution does not necessarily reflect the actual breeding preferences. The main dry season in Suriname is reckoned to be from half August to the end of November, the main wet season from half April to half August, but the the timing of begin and end does vary from year to year. Around March a second dry season often occurs.

Observations through the year

Observations of breeding through the year

The 433 reported observations of this bird in Suriname, mainly for the last 50 years up to 2018, have been grouped by month. More birds on one day are counted as one observation. Of course, if the graph should depict the total number of birds seen, the differences between the months could be much more pronounced.

The reported breeding observations of this bird in Suriname. Most observations are about nest with eggs, some about fledglings, or feeding at a nest or the building of a nest.

Of the about 5000 nests and eggs found for all species together, about 1/3 comes from the egg collection of Penard between 1896 and 1905. For some reason most collecting then was done in the first half of each year, so the shown distribution does not necessarily reflect the actual breeding preferences.
The main dry season in Suriname is reckoned to be from half August to the end of November, the main wet season from half April to half August, but the the timing of begin and end does vary from year to year. Around March a second dry season often occurs.

Last update: September 2024 by Jan Hein Ribot. Please mail your comments, photos to: jhribot ( residing at ) gmail (point!) com.
observations can be uploaded to suriname.observation.org or ebird.org ).