The grey-headed parakeet (''Psittacula finschii'') is closely related to the

slaty-headed parakeet The slaty-headed parakeet (''Psittacula himalayana'') is the only psittacid species to exhibit altitudinal migration. The species' range extends from Pakistan, to Western Himalayas in India through Nepal and Bhutan and up to the Eastern Himalayas ...

which together form a super-species. It is found in Southeast Asia from north-eastern India to Vietnam. The binomial of this bird commemorates the German naturalist and explorer

Otto Finsch Friedrich Hermann Otto Finsch (8 August 1839, Warmbrunn – 31 January 1917, Braunschweig) was a German ethnographer, naturalist and colonial explorer. He is known for a two-volume monograph on the parrots of the world which earned him a doctorate ...

Description

Its face is grey/green, and the rest of its head is dull green with faint pale green band below cheeks to hindcrown and its wing are patch absent and has a long tail.

Distribution & Population

The grey headed parakeet has a wide range in Southeast Asia. It is found in most of Vietnam, the entire country of Laos, most of eastern Cambodia, northern Thailand, in most of Myanmar (except for

Tanintharyi Region Tanintharyi Region ( my, တနင်္သာရီတိုင်းဒေသကြီး, ; Mon: or ; ms, Tanah Sari; formerly Tenasserim Division and subsequently Tanintharyi Division, th, ตะนาวศรี, RTGS: ''Tanao Si'', ; ...

), in the

Yunnan Yunnan , () is a landlocked province in the southwest of the People's Republic of China. The province spans approximately and has a population of 48.3 million (as of 2018). The capital of the province is Kunming. The province borders the C ...

province of China, in far east Bangladesh (extremely rare), nearly all of

Northeast India , native_name_lang = mni , settlement_type = , image_skyline = , image_alt = , image_caption = , motto = , image_map = Northeast india.png , ...

, and far southeast Bhutan. The global population size is not known, but this bird is reported to be uncommon in China, with varying statuses everywhere else. Gray-headed Parakeet Khonoma Nagaland India October 2018

Gray-headed Parakeet Khonoma Nagaland India October 2018

Habitat

''Psittacula finschii'' is found in elevations of up to 2,700 meters in forests consisting of

oak An oak is a tree or shrub in the genus ''Quercus'' (; Latin "oak tree") of the beech family, Fagaceae. There are approximately 500 extant species of oaks. The common name "oak" also appears in the names of species in related genera, notably ''L ...

teak Teak (''Tectona grandis'') is a tropical hardwood tree species in the family Lamiaceae. It is a large, deciduous tree that occurs in mixed hardwood forests. ''Tectona grandis'' has small, fragrant white flowers arranged in dense clusters ( pan ...

pine A pine is any conifer tree or shrub in the genus ''Pinus'' () of the family Pinaceae. ''Pinus'' is the sole genus in the subfamily Pinoideae. The World Flora Online created by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew and Missouri Botanical Garden accepts ...

, and cedar

tree In botany, a tree is a perennial plant with an elongated stem, or trunk, usually supporting branches and leaves. In some usages, the definition of a tree may be narrower, including only woody plants with secondary growth, plants that are ...

s. It also resides on

deciduous In the fields of horticulture and Botany, the term ''deciduous'' () means "falling off at maturity" and "tending to fall off", in reference to trees and shrubs that seasonally shed leaves, usually in the autumn; to the shedding of petals, ...

forest hillsides, farmland with scattered trees. In Cambodia, it regularly occurs in areas with evergreen and semi-evergreen vegetation.

Ecology

The grey headed parakeet has a widely varied diet of different species of leaf buds,

seed A seed is an embryonic plant enclosed in a protective outer covering, along with a food reserve. The formation of the seed is a part of the process of reproduction in seed plants, the spermatophytes, including the gymnosperm and angiospe ...

fruit In botany, a fruit is the seed-bearing structure in flowering plants that is formed from the ovary after flowering. Fruits are the means by which flowering plants (also known as angiosperms) disseminate their seeds. Edible fruits in particu ...

berries A berry is a small, pulpy, and often edible fruit. Typically, berries are juicy, rounded, brightly colored, sweet, sour or tart, and do not have a stone or pit, although many pips or seeds may be present. Common examples are strawberries, rasp ...

, and

flower A flower, sometimes known as a bloom or blossom, is the reproductive structure found in flowering plants (plants of the division Angiospermae). The biological function of a flower is to facilitate reproduction, usually by providing a mechani ...

s. It is often seen in flocks or family parties, with larger groups reported. It is usually a resident bird, with some seasonal altitudinal movement in response to food availability. It often gathers in large flocks to roost at dusk. After their breeding season from January–March,

female Female ( symbol: ♀) is the sex of an organism that produces the large non-motile ova (egg cells), the type of gamete (sex cell) that fuses with the male gamete during sexual reproduction. A female has larger gametes than a male. Females ...

s often lay a clutch of 4-5

egg An egg is an organic vessel grown by an animal to carry a possibly fertilized egg cell (a zygote) and to incubate from it an embryo within the egg until the embryo has become an animal fetus that can survive on its own, at which point the a ...

s that are around 28.5 x 22.0mm.

Threats

The grey-headed parakeet is often captured in the exotic bird trade and many are locally kept as pets. They tend to be popular in some small villages in southern China and surrounding areas. The constant trapping of birds is greatly affecting the wild population.

Deforestation Deforestation or forest clearance is the removal of a forest or stand of trees from land that is then converted to non-forest use. Deforestation can involve conversion of forest land to farms, ranches, or urban use. The most concentrated ...

and logging of the bird's natural forest habitat is also making a negative impact on the parakeet's population. The country of Laos and its uninhabited forest hills seems to act as a safe haven for the species.

References

Photos
- Oriental Bird Images
Species profile
- World Parrot Trust * http://www.birdlife.org/datazone/speciesfactsheet.php?id=1533

grey-headed parakeet The grey-headed parakeet (''Psittacula finschii'') is closely related to the slaty-headed parakeet which together form a super-species. It is found in Southeast Asia from north-eastern India to Vietnam. The binomial of this bird commemorates the ...

Parrots of Asia Birds of Northeast India Birds of Southeast Asia Birds of Yunnan Near threatened animals Near threatened biota of Asia

Taxobox binomials not recognized by IUCN {{parrot-stub