Venezuelan Parakeet

Locally fairly common in coastal-range forest but patchy; comes in fast flocks so often heard/seen in flight before perched views. A reliable endemic at the right sites. Split from White-eared Parakeet (P. leucotis); checklist treatment varies.

Small long-tailed parakeet, 22-23 cm, mostly green. Complex head: blue crown, plum/maroon-red face and lores, gray-brown nape, contrasting whitish ear-coverts (the 'white-eared' character). Breast green-and-buff SCALY (scalloped) pattern. Dark red-brown patch on belly center; red-brown (maroon) rump and tail; orange-to-yellow eye in dark gray skin. In flight, the maroon tail and scaly breast are the key marks.

Interior and edge of humid/wet montane and foothill forest, plus clearings with scattered trees. Mainly 250-1,700 m (up to ~2,200 m), locally down to sea level in Sucre.

Gregarious; fast-flying, tight, noisy flocks of up to ~30. Quiet and easily missed when perched feeding in fruiting/flowering trees (fruit, flowers, nectar). Often crosses ridges and passes in screeching flocks at dawn.

Noisy in flight: a loud, harsh, rapid 'kik-kik-kik-kik' chatter; an angrier 'wa-KE-KE-KE-ka' when perched and agitated. Typical raucous Pyrrhura screeching. Search Xeno-canto and Macaulay Library for 'Pyrrhura emma' / 'Venezuelan Parakeet' (older recordings may be filed under 'White-eared Parakeet').

Stand at a vantage like Portachuelo Pass at dawn and catch the screeching flocks crossing the ridge, then scope fruiting trees for perched, scope-fillable views of the scaly breast and white ear patch. Tell clients to listen — you'll hear them before you see them — and note the taxonomy (split from White-eared) so it's counted correctly.