Psittacula cyanocephala (Linnaeus, 1766)

An endemic species of Parakeet, restricted to the Indian sub-continent. It is mainly green in colour with the males having a pinkish purple head and the females, a grey head.

Seen in the Forest Park and in Samudram Eri in Tiruvannamalai, this is a slender, dainty, grass- green or yellowish green parakeet with a bright bluish red or plum-coloured head, a black-and- bluish-green collar and a maroon-red patch on its shoulder. During its swift arrow-like flight, the broad white tips of its narrow blue central tail-feathers can be seen. The female’s head is duller and greyer and the collar is yellow. This bird prefers light forest, well-wooded areas, and cultivation. This amazingly agile bird has an interrogative, shrill but pleasant tooi or tooi-tooi call and a variety of soft musical conversational notes when at rest with company. It roosts in large noisy groups in bamboo clumps, butea jungle and the like. It eats grain of all kinds, buds, fleshy petals and nectar of flowers like salmalia, butea and bassia. Breeding chiefly in December- January to April, nests are similar to those of other parakeets. Several pairs often nest in a loose colony in the same or adjacent tree-trunks

The season ranges between January and May. The nest-hole is generally excavated by the birds themselves in a rotten tree-stem or branch at moderate heights from the ground. Several pairs often nest together in the same or adjoining trees in a loose colony. As with the other parakeets, there is no lining to the nest, the eggs being laid on the bare wood or on the chips and debris that have tumbled in during excavation. A normal clutch is of four to six eggs—pure white, smooth roundish-ovals. Both sexes share in excavating the nest-hole, incubation and care of the young.

About that of the Myna ; slenderer and with a long, pointed tail.

Distinguishable from the Rose-ringed species by its smaller size, bluish-red head and maroon shoulder patches. In the female the head is bluish-grey and the maroon shoulder-patches are absent or obsolete.

The call of the plum-headed parakeet is an interrogative `tooi...tooi ´. Females have a grey head.

On the whole, the Blossom-headed Parakeet prefers better wooded country than its Rose-ringed cousin. It is usually seen in small parties, but the birds will sometimes collect in immense flocks and commit serious depredations on ripening crops, especially in cultivation in clearings about outlying forest villages. Their flight is very swift and flocks on the wing turn and twist their way through the stems of forest trees with astonishing agility and orderliness, uttering a shrill, interrogative tooi or tooi-tooi ? as they dash along. This distinctive call, coupled with the yellow tail-tip which is conspicuous in flight, makes their identity unmistakable. Besides grain and fruit, they eat a large quantity of flower nectar whenever available, but are destructive in their methods of obtaining it and consequently of no service in cross-fertilisation.

Inhabits deciduous forested areas, preferably hill terrain.

Seen in flocks, in wooded country and about forest cultivation.

Near-endemic

IUCN Redlist Status: Least Concern

Red List Category & Criteria: Least Concern ver 3.1