Plum-headed Parakeet
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| Plum-headed Parakeet | ||||||||||||||
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| Psittacula cyanocephala (Linnaeus, 1766) |
The Plum-headed Parakeet (Psittacula cyanocephala) is a parrot which is a resident breeder in India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. It undergoes local movements, driven mainly by the availability of the fruit and blossoms which make up its diet.
Plum-headed Parakeet is a bird of forest and open woodland. It nests in holes in trees, laying 4-6 white eggs.
This is a green parrot, 33 cm long with a tail up to 22cm. The male's head is red, becoming purple-blue on the back of the crown, nape and cheeks. There is a narrow black neck collar and a black chin stripe.
There is a red shoulder patch and the rump and tail are bluish-green, the latter tipped white. The upper mandible is yellow, and the lower mandible is dark.
The female has a grey head and lacks the black neck collar, chin stripe and red shoulder patch. Immature birds have a green head and both mandibles are yellowish.
The different head colour and the white tip to the tail distinguish this species from the similar Blossom-headed Parakeet (Psittacula roseata)
Plum-headed Parakeet is a gregarious and noisy species with range of raucous calls.
Though this species is not exploited as heavily as the sympatric Alexandrine Parakeet (It is saved by its inability to mimic human speech) the trade takes its toll in local population. However this species suffers immensely in captivity and is not to be kept in a cage for any length of time.
Reference
- Birds of India by Grimmett, Inskipp and Inskipp, ISBN 0-691-04910-6