Austral Parakeet

(Enicognathus ferrugineus)

Meet the southernmost parrot in the world! The Austral Parakeet (also known as the Austral Conure) is found farther south than any other parrot species on the planet. In fact, I photographed this individual at the southernmost point of its range in Tierra del Fuego National Park, Argentina. This is the bottom tip of South America! We may normally think of parrots as tropical birds, but this is nearly Sub-Antarctic!

So what does “Austral” mean? You guessed it: southern!