Blue-and-yellow macaw (Ara ararauna) in flight
There are 402 species of parrots, birds that collectively make up the order Psittaciformes. The order is subdivided into three superfamilies: the Psittacoidea ("true" parrots), the Cacatuoidea (cockatoos), and the Strigopoidea (New Zealand parrots). Parrots have a generally pantropical distribution, with several species inhabiting temperate regions in the Southern Hemisphere as well. The greatest diversity of parrots is in South America and Australasia. Of the known parrot species, 387 are extant; the remaining extinct species all went extinct after 1500 C.E. and are thus considered to be recently extinct by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. (Full list...)