The outrageous way I think of Chile is to imagine the parrots that live there.

 

When I think of Parrots I try not to imagine palm trees and jungles.

 

Having visited Chile I now think of Chile as not typically shaped, its a bizarre shape.

 

Chile is crazy, its 4700 km long but only 170 km wide.  I have found Chilean landscapes to be mountainous, and glaciated or dry and desertified.

 

 

 

The outrageous way I think of Chile is now to imagine the parrots that live their, and after our travels I have seen all of them.

 

Chile has 5 parrots.

1  Burrowing Parrot – Cyanoliseus patagonus

2  Austral Parakeet – Enicognathus ferrugineus

3  Slender-billed Parakeet – Enicognathus leptorhynchus

4  Monk Parakeet – Myiopsitta monachus

5  Mountain Parakeet – Psilopsiagon aurifrons

 

 

High up in the Andean mountains where it is hot and dry there lives the Mountain parakeet.  Unlike most Parakeets this one feeds mostly on the ground.

 

 

Burrowing parrots are now endangered.  There are less than twenty nesting colonies left in the country.  A bizarre parrot which does not favour trees but nests in holes in cliffs.

 

T

he Monk Parakeet is common and is just as likely to be found in towns and cities. It builds huge nests in which a number of Monk Parakeet families live.

 

Many of these nests are on top of pylons which can cause significant problems due their heavy weight.

 

 

 

The Slender-billed Parakeet is another endangered parrot of Chile, more importantly it is endemic to the country.

 

 

The Austral Parakeet is perhaps the most bizarre.  These parrots only live in the deep south of the country, a land of snow and glaciers.

 

An outrageous way to think of Chile therefore is to think of these five parrots and their crazy lifestyles. there.