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Plum-headed Parakeet

Conservation status

Least Concern
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Psittaciformes
Family: Psittacidae
Genus: Psittacula
Species: P. cyanocephala
Binomial name
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 is endemic to the Indian subcontinent. 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 orangish-yellow, and the lower mandible is dark.

The female has a grey head, corn-yellow upper-mandible 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. The usual flight and contact call is oink? repeated now and then.

Though this species is not exploited as heavily as the sympatric Alexandrine Parakeet the trade takes its toll on local populations across the range. Population is reduced in urban areas and heavily inhabited zones.

Trivia

Bhutan, Sierra Leone and Sri Lanka have issued stamps depicting the Plumheaded Parakeet.

Leslie Eaves was a famous bird breeder who belonged to a bird cage society, he was the first to rear a Plumheaded Parakeet in England

References

* BirdLife International (2004). Psittacula cyanocephala. 2006 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. IUCN 2006. Retrieved on 05 May 2006. Database entry includes justification for why this species is of least concern

* Birds of India by Grimmett, Inskipp and Inskipp, ISBN 0-691-04910-6

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