The Upside-Down World of The Hanging Parrot

To an untrained eye, the vernal hanging parrot can seem like a baby parrot on its day out, a diminutive bird that seemingly sneaked out of its comfy nest while the parents were away at work. Bright green with an orange beak, it stalks its way through foliage barely making a sound. Unlike its bigger relatives, this parrot can’t ‘talk’. Or won’t. Although it seems quite happy to mimic other frugivorous birds with whom it shares fruiting trees. Blending in with the community while foraging, joining in their songs, perhaps, adds an extra layer of safety and comfort. For this tiny bird, mimicry is of as much value as effective camouflage as it is a social bonding exercise.

Until I first saw this parrot in the wild, the name “hanging” parrot always puzzled me. Seriously, though, have you watched a Rose-ringed Parakeet intently dangling from a branch, upside down, stretching its neck to that particular juicy mango? Or when it gingerly plods its way down the Peacock flower (Caesalpinia sp.) shoots, carefully rotating itself until it can reach the pods, snip a pod away with the beak, while suspended from the slender branch? What is so different about the hanging action of the Vernal Hanging Parrot?

It’s about as different as the posture of a window-cleaner from a trapeze artist.

One moment, the Vernal Hanging Parrot is picking at a fruit, upright and proud. In a blink, it’s swinging down from the same spot sucking nectar from a flower. And if the spot feels snug and quiet enough, it might even take a nap in the middle of lunch. The bird gets its name not just by how deftly it can swing upside down, but also that it’s so skilled, that it can do it in its sleep – the only bird family to sleep like a bat! What’s more, according to a study by Francine G. Buckley, Hanging Parrots even swing upside down and pretend to fall asleep, when they sense a threat.

Playing dead to save your life is boring. The Hanging Parrot prefers going batty. After all, as shy and quiet as the Loriculus is, it’s got to live up to the family name of ‘Parrot’.