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Blue-winged Parakeet
Compiled by Boominathan M

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Blue-winged Parakeet is a common bird in the Southern Western Ghats. Tribals of the area keep it as a pet. This parakeet is not an accomplished talker, which is characterized by a harsh, distinct double noted voice (chewchewee…) uttered chiefly during flight. The body size is 380 mm (about that of the Myna) and the built of the parakeet is slender with a tail that's long and pointed. Both, the male and the female are dimorphic i.e. varied in colour.

Classification

The Blue-winged Parakeet is classified thus;

Kingdom – Animalia.

Phylum – Chordata.

Class - Aves (Birds).

Order – Psittaciformes.

Family – Psittacidae (Parrot).

GenusPsittacula .

Species - columboides .

Local Name - Malayalam - Nilattatta; Hindi - Madangour tota.

Common Name - Blue-winged Parakeet.

Colour

For a male,

For a female,

Psittacula columboides Male and Female.

Courtesy: http://home.wanadoo.nl/psittaculaworld/Species/P-columboides.htm

Length of the external organs (in mm):

Adult

Bill
Wing
Tail

Male

22 - 25.5 142.5 - 156 204 - 246

Female

21 – 23 135 – 144.5 167

Distribution Along the Western Ghats from Khandala down to the south of Travancore including the Nilgiris, Palnis and the Mysore and associated hill ranges.

HabitFlies straight, Arboreal i.e. lives in trees.

Habitat - Evergreen and semi evergreen forests between the heights of c. 450 to 1050 m.

FoodWild figs, grains, nectar present on the blossoms of Erythrina, Greville, Salmalia and Butea trees. Flower petals of these plants are also eaten. This frugivorous bird feeds insects to its chicks.

NestingChiefly, between Januarys to March. Nest hole in a tree trunk is between 6 to 30.5 m above the ground. A secondary tree hole, usually a barbet or woodpecker nest is used as its nest site by this parakeet. (Satish Pande, 2003).

Eggs - Female lays 3-5 unmarked white, spherical eggs with an average length of 28.3 mm and width of 24.5 mm.

Parental careMales and females together contribute to parental care.

Social Organization – Lives, moves, and feeds together in a flock.

References

Address for Correspondence:

Energy and Wetlands Research Group
Centre for Ecological Sciences
Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore-12