Malabar Parakeet
Psittacula columboides
This striking parakeet is restricted to the forests of India’s Western Ghats. Bluish-gray male has a bright red upper bill and a black-and-blue collar. The greener female has an all-dark bill and a weaker black collar. Both sexes have blue in the wings and tail, though male’s is more prominent. Gives harsh, buzzy, high-pitched screeching, often as the birds shoot overhead. Favors forest and forest edge.
Identification
The blue-winged parakeet is bluish grey with a long yellow-tipped tail. The black neck ring is complete in both males and females. The male has a bluish-green lower edge to the black collar and the upper mandible is red with a white tip while the female has an all black bill and has only the black collar. The female looks similar to the female of the plum-headed parakeet which however can be told apart by its broad yellow collar. Flocks move through the forest while calling out in a series of screeching keek-keek-keek calls.<p>They breed in the dry season after the northeast Monsoon and the chicks fledge before the southwest Monsoon in June. They nest in holes in trees (often tall Mesua ferrea species), especially old woodpecker and barbet nests. The birds begin breeding in December and eggs are laid in December and January. The usual clutch was 4 eggs which hatch after about 23 days. The female initially broods with the male bringing food and later the male takes over. The chicks fledge in about a month and leave the nest. Chicks are sometimes trapped for trade. Individuals have been observed feeding on the leaves of Loranthus longiflorus.<p>The closest living relative of this species is Layard's parakeet which is endemic to Sri Lanka.
Taxonomy
- Scientific name
- Psittacula columboides
- Authority
- (Vigors, 1830)
- Order
- Psittaciformes
- Family
- Psittaculidae
- Genus
- Psittacula
Range and habitat
This parakeet is restricted to the Western Ghats south of about 19°N (Kasa, north of Bombay) to Kerala, extending into the hills of the Palnis and Nilgiris as well as the adjoining Eastern Ghats including the Biligirirangan range and possibly further east in the Kolli Hills in India.
- Migration
- Nomadic movement
Conservation
- Population trend
- stable
Photos
Distribution
Bird Calls
Other Birds
Christmas Island Boobook
Ninox natalis
Small, distinctive boobook with extensive chestnut-brown barring. Favors surviving primary rainforest, but can sometimes be found in secondary growth; can be found on roadsides through suitable habitat when hunting. The only resident owl on the island; the migratory Northern Boobook is a winter visitor to the island, and is significantly larger and much darker overall, with an all-brown head and brown-striped white underparts. Present species gives an odd, distorted-sounding “qwr-qwerk.” Begging birds give a shrill trill. Unfortunately, like many other Christmas Island species, has suffered declines due to the introduced yellow crazy ant, which has caused the owl to disappear from parts of its range.
Gurney's Sugarbird
Promerops gurneyi
A large nectar-eating bird with a decurved beak and a long graduated tail. Dull brown above, it is mostly pale below with a broad rusty breast band and crown and a yellow undertail. Pairs prefer to breed in areas of flowering Protea in escarpment mountains; when these become senescent, the sugarbirds move to lower altitudes, congregating on other flowers such as aloes. The species sings a characteristic scratchy, jumbled twittering and twanging. The larger Cape Sugarbird is similar, but has a much longer graduated tail, moustache-like stripes, and a harsher song, and lacks the rusty breast and crown.
Oriental Cuckooshrike
Coracina javensis
A large gray cuckooshrike with a strong, hooked bill. Upperparts are mostly gray with black primaries; male darker than female. Rump and upper tail are paler than back, which is apparent in flight. Male has gray throat and upper breast becoming paler on the belly. Female generally has paler underparts with faint gray bars except from the lower belly to the tail. Both sexes have a dark patch from the bill to slightly behind the eye, giving a masked impression. Juvenile is brownish, heavily scaled with whitish-buff, and mottled on the underparts. Immature has broader white edges to wing feathers. Vocal. Call is a two-noted, rather nasal “gii-yaak,” uttered in flight as well as from a perch. Inhabits lightly wooded country, avoiding wet forests.
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