Psittacula caniceps [Blyth 1846]

Blyth's Parakeet

Psittacula caniceps (Blyth 1846)

Description: Green; head grey; nape and crown with faint blue tinge; cheeks and ear-coverts with light yellowish tinge; chin, broad stripe to cheek, lores and forehead black; upperside of middle tail-feathers green tinged with grey and with yellow tips, outer tail-feathers green; underside of tail-feathers green-olive yellowish; upper mandible red, lower mandible black; iris orange-red; feet grey.

Hen as cock, but nape and crown suffused strongly with blue; both upper and lower mandible black; middle tail-feathers on average noticably shorter.

Length: 56 cm, wing length 202 - 222 mm, tail length 241 - 378 mm.

Distribution: Great Nicobar, Little Nicobar, Montschall and Kondul in Nicobar Islands.

Habitat: Mangroves, virgin lowland forest and edges of forest.

Status: Common

Behaviour: In pairs or small groups outside breeding season; lives high in trees and never comes down to ground; prefers dense foliage in tops of tallest trees; seldom seen on bare branches; noisy; flight swift and direct.

Call: Call harsh, raucous screeching.

Natural diet: Seeds, fruits, berries, buds, prefers fruit of Pandanus ssp.

Nesting: Unknown; egg measures 38.2 x 25.6 mm.

Aviculture: No information available; most probably only brought to Europe once, in the Zoo of England, probably begin 1900; but kept by local people of Nicobar Islands