Blue-headed Racket-tail
Also known as: Palawan racket-tail · Kinawihan (local name) · Kilit (local name)
Definition
Blue-headed racket-tail, also called the Palawan racket-tail and locally known as kinawihan or kilit, is a parrot found in the western Philippines around Palawan and adjoining islands. It inhabits humid lowland forests and forest edges, moving in small flocks, and is recognized by its mainly green plumage with a blue head and the elongated, spatulate-tipped tail feathers that give the racket-tails their name. Formerly treated as the same species as the blue-crowned racket-tail, it is now regarded as distinct, and it is threatened by habitat destruction and limited trapping for the cage-bird trade. (Wikipedia)
Identities
| Source Type | Identity |
|---|---|
| Wikipedia | Blue-headed racket-tail |
| Wikidata | Q1261553 |
| DBpedia | N/A |
| ProductOntology | N/A |
| Wiktionary | N/A |
| Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH) | N/A |
| MeSH | N/A |
| NCBI Taxonomy | N/A |
| AGROVOC | N/A |
| Google Scholar | blue-headed racket-tail Palawan parrot Prioniturus conservation trade |
| ConceptNet | parrot |
| OpenCyc | N/A |
Also Known As
- Palawan racket-tail
- Kinawihan (local name)
- Kilit (local name)
Examples and Analogies
- A Parrot with Tennis Rackets for Tail Feathers: Bare tail shafts end in dark “racket” tips, so the silhouette in flight looks like streamers that someone finished with paddle blades.
- Palawan’s Green Silhouettes: Small screeching flocks crossing the forest canopy serve island visitors the way racing pigeons mark old town plazas — a familiar sound signature of home.
Usage Scenarios
1. Birdwatching Tours in Palawan
Guides stake out fruiting trees near Puerto Princesa and El Nido forests where flocks reliably feed, offering visitors a chance to observe the island’s near-endemic parrot.
2. Forest-Edge Habitat Monitoring
Protected-area staff track racket-tail occurrence along lowland forest corridors as one indicator of how fragmentation is affecting hole- and fruit-nesting birds.
Strategies
- Conserve lowland forest blocks with native fruit trees rather than relying on scattered plantations, since flocks feed and move through continuous canopy.
- Include the species in anti-wildlife-crime watchlists for bird markets, keeping trapping pressure from resurging as it historically did for Philippine parrots.
Security and Safety Measures
- Report cages of wild-caught racket-tails to wildlife enforcement authorities; the species is protected under Philippine wildlife law.
- Keep tourist observation distances generous and quiet, as flocks abandon heavily disturbed feeding trees.
Historical Context
Racket-tail parrots of the genus were long lumped and split by ornithologists as collections from Palawan and the Sulu region were compared with Mindanao and Visayan birds, with the blue-headed form eventually standing as a species centered on the Palawan faunal region. Like many Philippine parrots, it entered the twentieth century abundant and exited it diminished, its lowland forests logged and its bright face occasionally appearing in the cage-bird trade that conservation law now polices. (Wikipedia)
Challenges and Controversies
Lowland Deforestation
Conversion of humid lowland forest to farms and settlements steadily shrinks the species’ habitat on Palawan and neighboring islands.
Cage-Bird Trapping
Although limited, capture for the pet trade compounds habitat loss and remains a chronic enforcement challenge in island markets.