Plum-headed Parakeet
| 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 blosssoms 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.
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