Photo © by Alok Tewari
Wilderness on the city limits, Jhajjar, Haryana, India, 7 December 2023
- Psittacula eupatria
Identification
56-62 cm (22-24½ in)
Male
- Green head
- Grey-blue cheeks and nape
- Broad black neck ring
- Broad pink nape band
- Brownish-red shoulder patch
- Yellow-tipped bluish-green tail
- Yellow-tipped red bill
Females and immatures lack the black neck ring, pink nape band and are duller.
Distribution
Asia
Afghanistan, China, Tibet, Nepal, Pakistan, India, Andaman Islands, Eastern and Western Himalayas, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Bhutan
Southeast Asia: Indochina, Myanmar, Laos, Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand
Taxonomy
Subspecies
There are five sub-species, differing in mostly minor plumage details and size[1]:
- P. e. nipalensis:
- Eastern Afghanistan to Pakistan, northern India and Bangladesh
- P. e. eupatria:
- P. e. magnirostris:
- P. e. avensis:
- P. e. siamensis:
Habitat
Forests, parks and gardens in urban areas
Behaviour
Diet
The diet includes fruit, seeds and blossoms.
Breeding
It nests in holes in large trees; 2–4 white eggs are laid.
Vocalisation
A pair was foraging at day-break in the wilderness at city limits; it flew away, giving inflight calls.
Audio © by Alok Tewari
Jhajjar City, Haryana, India. 7 December 2023.
References
- Clements, J. F., T. S. Schulenberg, M. J. Iliff, S. M. Billerman, T. A. Fredericks, B. L. Sullivan, and C. L. Wood. 2019. The eBird/Clements Checklist of Birds of the World: v2019. Downloaded from http://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/download/
- Lepage D. (2020) Avibase. Retrieved 9 September 2020
- Collar, N. and P. F. D. Boesman (2020). Alexandrine Parakeet (Psittacula eupatria), version 1.0. In Birds of the World (J. del Hoyo, A. Elliott, J. Sargatal, D. A. Christie, and E. de Juana, Editors). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, USA. https://doi.org/10.2173/bow.alepar2.01
- AvianWeb
Recommended Citation
- BirdForum Opus contributors. (2024) Alexandrine Parakeet. In: BirdForum, the forum for wild birds and birding. Retrieved 16 April 2024 from https://www.birdforum.net/opus/Alexandrine_Parakeet
External Links
GSearch checked for 2020 platform.1
