Pionites melanocephalus pallidus

Pallid Caiques are found north of the Amazon River in Brazil, Columbia, Peru, Venezuela, French Guiana, Guyana and Surinam. They inhabit the both the high forest, forest edges as well as flat savannah woodlands. Pallid caiques coloring differs in which all orange feathering is replaced with yellow feathers on the thighs. Some believe hybridization (both in captivity and possibly even in the wild) accounts for some of the color variations we see today among the Black-headed Caiques.

In the wild they are said to not be well known as good fliers. The species distribution map shows the suggested origin of wild pallid caiques.

According to John McMichael of thecaiquesite.com, other names the Pallid Caique is known by include:

Pallid caique

Pallid black-headed parrot

To my knowledge, pallids are not being bred in the United States. There is one confirmed pallid in Australia, but at this time we are not sure if the bird is an oddity, or that more breeding pairs exist. Pallids are also being bred in Panama. Reportedly, the pallid caique is also a rarity to breeders in European countries.

Q:I just saw a picture of a pallid caique and it looks an awful lot like my bird. Could mine be a pallid ?

A: If you are in North America, you have a black headed caique. The main telling difference between a pallid caique and nominate species black head is the pallids lack the mottled coloring on the thighs. Pallids are also said to be a duller coloration overall. Outside of North America there are few cases of pallid caiques as pets, moreso in areas where the pallid was imported before strict importation guidelines were set in place.

Breeding Season
Because the two caique species differ in territory, their breeding seasons differ slightly. The Black-Headed caique’s natural season is March to October, and eggs are incubated for 13-14 weeks.

The White Belly Caique’s season is February to October, also with an incubation period of 13-14 weeks.