Blue-winged racket-tail

The blue-winged racket-tail or Sulu racquet-tail (Prioniturus verticalis) is a species of parrot in the family Psittaculidae.

It is pressumed to have a similar diet as all other racquet-tails, feeding on fruit, particularly bananas, flowers and seeds of growing corn, and rice.

It is now assessed as Critically Endangered by the IUCN Red List with population estimates being just 50 - 249 mature individuals.

Once prevalent throughout all the islands of the Sulu Archipelago, the blue-winged racket-tail is now only found on isolated places on Tawi-Tawi due to rapid habitat destruction during the past 200 years.

This tame behavior is taken advantage of by trappers and has made it an easy target to capture for the illegal exotic pet trade.