This bird sleeps upside down!

We know that bats hang upside down to sleep. But do any birds share the same odd habit?

It’s a new day, and that means a new chance to learn about birds!

Today we’ll learn about a species of bird that eats, sleeps, and even projectile poops while upside down! Meet the Hanging Parrots - a group of small parrots that can be found in tropical southern Asia.

Image credit: Raj Dhage. This is the Vernal Hanging Parrot, which is notable for the fact that they hang down in trees and from other high surfaces, often upside down, to reach sources of food in the trees.

Like bats, they hang upside down to sleep

Like their name suggests, the Hanging Parrot is known for the fact that they love hanging out in the tall trees… while hanging upside down! Plus, they are unique amongst birds for their ability to even sleep like bats, upside down.

In all, there are 14 different species of hanging parrots. These Hanging Parrots are tiny, short-tailed, bright green birds. This list includes members such as the Blue-crowned Hanging Parrot, which can be found in Singapore, as well as the Sri Lanka Hanging Parrot, which possess a bright red patch on their crown.

Image credit: eBird. A Sri Lanka Hanging Parrot.

They all feed on fruits, berries, nuts, nectar and blossoms and they will irrupt in search of food. Yup, you read that right - if there’s not enough food in the forest, the birds will erupt like a volcano due to their hunger!!!

No, I’m kidding. I said irrupt, not erupt.

Both the words irrupt and erupt are descendants of the Latin verb rumpere, which means "to break”.

Irrupt has the prefix ir- (in the sense "into") while erupt has the prefix e- (meaning "out"). So "to irrupt" was originally to rush in, and "to erupt" was to burst out.

So while lava can erupt (or burst out) of a volcano, for example, birds will irrupt (break into) new feeding grounds when food is scarce. It’s a fancy, science-y way to explain unusual bird ‘migration’.

Image credit: Birding Beijing. An irruption is the sudden change in the population density of an organism. When speaking of birds, irruptions refer to the movement of northern-wintering species to the south in years of low food availability.

That’s not all! They eat and projectile poop while upside down, too!

Hanging Parrots are unique for their ability to sleep upside down. But another less well-known fact is that they even poop upside down!

Of course, this may be a little gross. Imagine pooping down onto your own feathers, and maybe even pooping onto your face and into your eyes. Gag!

To combat this, the Hanging Parrot will strategically position its bottle at a 45 degree angle, while still upside down, before projectile-pooping their waste away from their body. This keeps their bowels empty, while keeping their beautiful green feathers pristine.

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By the way, here’s some info on bird poop:

1. Bird poop looks white (if you or your car has ever been pooped on, you probably are familiar with this white splatter).

2. That’s because birds, unlike mammals, do not have separate exits for urine and feces. Both waste products are eliminated simultaneously through the cloaca.

3. Birds convert their waste materials to something called guanine, which minimises water loss. The uric acid in this guanine forms a white sticky paste. So the white part is actually bird pee; it is the dark center that is the poop.

4. It turns out that not all birds excrete waste simultaneously. Ostriches, for example, will pee first and then poop (instead of doing both at the same time).

Sorry for all the gross info about bird pee and poop above. But it’s pretty interesting to learn about these things, because there’s a reason for everything that happens in nature.

Image credit: Smithsonian Magazine. A gathering of Puffins stand on a poop-covered rock. Judging by the fish in their beaks, I don’t think Puffins have heard of the phrase “don’t sh*t where you eat”!

And for birds, the reason why they pee and poop at the same time is because they only have one exit for their digestive and urinary tracts, called the cloaca. Since there’s just one exit, which utilises the same muscles to ‘open’, there’s been no reason for them to excrete waste, one item at a time!

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The different types of hanging parrots

Back to the pretty parrots. Unlike some other parrot species, Hanging Parrots have not been recorded to be able to mimic human speech. However, they are smart birds and can mimic whistles very well!

The blue-crowned hanging-parrot is a short-tailed parrot that grows to just between 12 and 14cm, making it Singapore's smallest parrot.

Image credit: eBird. A Blue-crowned Hanging Parrot.

The Yellow-throated Hanging Parrot is a small species that is only found in the Indonesian islands of Java and Bali.

The Pygmy Hanging Parrot is a tiny species that is only found in the forest, mangrove and other wooded habitats on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi. Sadly, it is becoming rare due to habitat loss.

Hopefully these pretty pictures of Hanging Parrots have taken your mind off less unsavoury parts of animal biology. Hang out with you next time!