Parakeet Tree Monday
Plum-headed and Alexandrine Parakeets
We came to this tree festooned with parakeets.
The two-foot-long Alexandrine Parakeets stood out given their size and their large red bills.
Found in parts of India, Nepal, Bhutan, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Myanmar, and the islands of Coco and Andaman, these vegetarians love fruits, nuts, seeds, nectar, flower petals, and young leaves. They can do some damage in orchards.
In one study in West Pakistan, 70% of their stomach contents were from cultivated plants.
But here, eating wild plants, they were not a nuisance but a delight for us birders.
These 13” Plum-headed Parakeets were considerably smaller, but oh, those head colors!
His head is crimson-pink fading to gray with a black collar,
while she has a purple-gray head with a yellow color. Fruit lovers who also eat seeds, buds, petals, and nectar.
Flocks of several hundred have been known to descend on orchards and crop fields of rice, sorghum, maize, and vegetables.
These stunners are found on the Indian subcontinent from NE Pakistan to Bhutan, south to Sri Lanka.
Alexandrine Parakeet Psittacula eupatria Plum-headed Parakeet Psittacula cyanocephala
Chitwan National Park, Chitwan, Nepal
March 15, 2025