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, natural history, naturalist and colonial explorer. He is known for a two-volume monograph on the parrots of the world which earne ...

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 & habitat

Gray-headed Parakeet Khonoma Nagaland India October 2018

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 (, ; Mon: or ; formerly Tenasserim Division and Tanintharyi Division) is a region of Myanmar, covering the long narrow southern part of the country on the northern Malay Peninsula, reaching to the Kra Isthmus. It borders ...

), in the

Yunnan Yunnan; is an inland Provinces of China, province in Southwestern China. The province spans approximately and has a population of 47.2 million (as of 2020). The capital of the province is Kunming. The province borders the Chinese provinces ...

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

Northeast India Northeast India, officially the North Eastern Region (NER), is the easternmost region of India representing both a geographic and political Administrative divisions of India, administrative division of the country. It comprises eight States and ...

, 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. It is found in elevations of up to 2,700 meters in forests consisting of

oak An oak is a hardwood tree or shrub in the genus ''Quercus'' of the beech family. They have spirally arranged leaves, often with lobed edges, and a nut called an acorn, borne within a cup. The genus is widely distributed in the Northern Hemisp ...

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 (panic ...

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. ''World Flora Online'' accepts 134 species-rank taxa (119 species and 15 nothospecies) of pines as cu ...

, 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, e.g., including only woody plants with secondary growth, only ...

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 Leaf, leaves, usually in the autumn; to the shedding of petals, aft ...

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

Behaviour and ecology

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

seed In botany, a seed is a plant structure containing an embryo and stored nutrients in a protective coat called a ''testa''. More generally, the term "seed" means anything that can be Sowing, sown, which may include seed and husk or tuber. Seeds ...

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

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 fruit, stone or pit (fruit), pit although many wikt:pip#Etymology 2, pips or seeds may be p ...

, and

flower Flowers, also known as blooms and blossoms, are the reproductive structures of flowering plants ( angiosperms). Typically, they are structured in four circular levels, called whorls, around the end of a stalk. These whorls include: calyx, m ...

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 An organism's sex is female ( symbol: ♀) if it produces the ovum (egg cell), the type of gamete (sex cell) that fuses with the male gamete (sperm cell) during sexual reproduction. A female has larger gametes than a male. Females and ...

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 ...

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 and destruction 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. Ab ...

and

logging Logging is the process of cutting, processing, and moving trees to a location for transport. It may include skidder, skidding, on-site processing, and loading of trees or trunk (botany), logs onto logging truck, trucksPhotos
- Oriental Bird Images
Species profile
- World Parrot Trust * http://www.birdlife.org/datazone/speciesfactsheet.php?id=1533 grey-headed parakeet Parrots of Asia Birds of Northeast India Birds of Southeast Asia Birds of Yunnan Near threatened animals Near threatened biota of Asia Parakeets grey-headed parakeet {{parrot-stub