Caiques parrots originate from the Amazon basin area of South America. Black-headed Caiques come from north of the Amazon River in Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, French Guiana, Peru and Venezuela. The White-bellied Caiques are found south of the Amazon River in Bolivia, Brazil and Peru.

Caiques prefer to live in the humid forest canopy. They are very good climbers and they get around by walking, climbing, jumping, and hopping rather rather than flying!

In the wild, Caique parrots are often observed in pairs and small flocks of up to thirty birds.

The Caique's diet in the wild consists mainly of fruit, flowers and seeds.

The wild population of Caiques is not considered threatened.

Listen to Caiques in the wild:

View a video of a a flock of Caiques in the rainforest canopy:

To see more pictures and obtain information about Caiques click on the links below:

• Caiques are nicknamed the "Dancing Parrot" because of their habit of hopping like a little wind-up toy. Check out a video:

• Caique chicks are probably deaf when they hatch and, like other New World parrots, have no ear opening. An opening appears about the same time their eyes open between two and three weeks after hatching.
• A study of Black-headed Caiques has shown that they are more frequently right footed than left footed. Most other parrot species are left footed.
• Caiques often like to sleep on their backs and also love to juggle small toys while laying on their back.
• A caique's smell can be a sign of its emotional state. Happy caiques have a sweet smell and sad caiques are said to smell like cardboard.
• Ecuador and Peru are two countries that have honored Caiques on postage stamps:

(source: bird-stamps.org)