The Long-tailed Parakeet (Psittacula longicauda) is an elegant Psittacula found in South-east Asia. My views of them in Taiping Lake Gardens were from a distance so I have to use a close-up from Wikipedia.
And here’s some of my shots of the parakeets in flight. I think the ones with the shorter tails are juveniles.
They have a large range throughout the regions of Andaman islands, Nicobar islands, Sumatra, Borneo and Peninsular Malaysia (including Singapore). The easiest places to find them are Taiping Lake Gardens (blue dot) and occasionally Taman Negara in Malaysia and Singapore.
The Red-breasted Parakeet (Psittacula alexandri) is among the more widespread species of the genus and is the species which has the most geographical variations. It is easily identified by the large reddish patch on its breast. An alternative name is the Moustached Parakeet depending on subspecies. The subspecies found in Thailand is Psittacula alexandri fasciata.
My long-distance shots don’t do this beauty justice so here’s the Wikipedia shot.
Here’s a couple of my shots from the Khao Yai area.
Red-breasted Parakeets have a huge range from South and South-East Asia, from northern and eastern India (including the Andaman Islands), Nepal, Bhutan and Bangladesh, ranging through Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam and southern China (Guangxi, Guangdong and Hainan), with populations in Indonesia, on Java, Bali Karimunjawa, Kangean, Simeulue, Nias and Banyak, and in Kalimantan (where probably introduced from Java) (Juniper and Parr 1998). For travel logistical purposes, the easiest place to see them would be in Thailand where there is a city-based flock in the Dusit area and a large population in the Khao Yai area seen easily near the Balios Resort. Your ears will find them!
The Grey-headed parakeet (Psittacula finschii) is closely related to the Slaty-headed Parakeet (which I saw in Nepal a few years ago) which together form a super-species. I briefly saw a small flock fly overhead as we turned down the road to Thung Kik in Mae Ping NP but they disappeared before I could get a shot. This species seems to be very difficult to get a photo of in the wild, not even Wikipedia has one, they just have a drawing of one!
They do have a fairly large range and Mae Ping is considered the easiest place to see them (blue dot). While you are likely to see them, expect it to be a swift fly-by!
Oriental Bird Club (only photography source of these birds in the wild I could find)
VIDEO
This is a pretty decent video of one eating even though he is partially obscured by leaves! It seems everyone has trouble trying to photo/video this bird!
The Blossom-headed Parakeet (Psittacula roseata) is a parrot which is a resident breeder in northeast India eastwards into Southeast Asia. It undergoes local movements, driven mainly by the availability of the fruit and blossoms which make up its diet. In these photos which I took near Doi Inthanon, you can see the difference between the male and female. He has a brighter head with a distinct neck ring and she has a pale lavender head with no neck ring.
Although the Blossom-headed Parakeet has a fairly large range across South-east Asia, Thailand is by far the easiest country to travel in logistically, especially for people like me who prefer independent travel in a rental car. After doing my homework, I settled on Doi Inthanon (red dot below) as the best bet to see this bird reliably.
The Red-fronted Parrot (Poicephalus gulielmi), also known as the Jardine’s parrot, is a medium-sized mainly green parrot endemic across wide areas of Africa. It has three subspecies. The extent and shade of the red or orange plumage on its head, thighs, and bend of wings vary depending on the subspecies.
These two photos are a juvenile Jardine’s Parrot at Birds of Eden.
Although I saw a Jardine’s zoom by at Arusha NP I didn’t get a photo of an adult so I will fall back on the Wikipedia one.
They have a huge range across Africa in separated areas but many of these would be difficult for a tourist to access. The best places are Arusha NP in Tanzania and Kakum NP in Ghana.
IBC has a clip of some parrots in Ghana. I came up blank for a video on YouTube of WILD Jardine’s Parrots although there was a lot of captive bird clips.
The Fischer’s lovebird (Agapornis fischeri) is a small parrot species of the Agapornis genus. They were originally discovered in the late 19th century, and are named after German explorer Gustav Fischer.
I managed to get up close and personal with some at Ndutu Safari Lodge where they frequent the garden and small pond near the dining room.
Trying to catch one in flight – turned out blurry.
The yellow-collared lovebird (Agapornis personatus), also called masked lovebird or eye ring lovebird, is a monotypic species of bird of the lovebird genus in the parrot family Psittaculidae. They are native to northeast Tanzania and have been introduced to Burundi and Kenya.
They are near endemic to Tanzania and are very easily seen at the northern end of Tarangire National Park. They frequent a well at Whistling Thorn Camp and were the first birds to welcome us in!
The Brown Parrot aka Meyer’s parrot (Poicephalus meyeri) is a small (about 21 cm, 90-130g), stocky African parrot. Meyer’s parrots display a dull brown head, back and tail, green or blue-green abdomen, blue rump and bright yellow markings on the carpal joint of the wings. Most subspecies have some yellow on the top of the head as well. Forshaw (1989) recognizes six subspecies of P. meyeri which vary in home range, size and in markings, including the extent of yellow markings on the head and wings and intensity of turquoise markings on the abdomen and rump. The name commemorates the German ornithologist Bernhard Meyer.
I had to work for these shots as the Meyer’s Parrots in Tarangire were pretty far away and experts at camouflage!
The six subspecies are:
P. m. meyeri (Cretzschmar, 1827) — s Chad to w Ethiopia
P. m. saturatus (Sharpe, 1901) — Uganda and w Kenya to w Tanzania
P. m. matschiei (Neumann, 1898) — c Tanzania, se Congo, Zambia and n Malawi
P. m. reichenowi (Neumann, 1898) — c Angola to s Congo
P. m. damarensis (Neumann, 1898) — n Namibia, s Angola and nw Botswana
P. m. transvaalensis (Neumann, 1899) — Botswana, Zimbabwe and n South Africa
Meyer’s Parrots have a huge range so you have a good chance to see them on most African birding safaris. Check above as to the subspecies you are likely to see. Tarangire NP in Tanzania is a relatively easy place to see them (red dot) but you also could try Serengeti, Masai Mara, some parks in Uganda, Zambia, Zimabawe, Chobe in Botswana, Etosha in Namibia. The Xeno-Canto & IBC websites below have actual locations where other people saw them and took sound clips.
Well YT has hundreds of captive Meyer’s Parrot videos but this one at last shows their natural sound. There are more videos on IBC which I can’t embed here that have actual wild birds.
The red-bellied parrot (Poicephalus rufiventris) is a small African parrot about 23 cm (9 in) long of the Poicephalus genus. Some guidebooks call this the “African Orange-bellied Parrot” so be sure you check the scientific name. It is a mostly greenish and grey parrot. Males have a bright orange belly and females have a greenish belly.
I saw them in two different locations at Tarangire, one in the small Serengeti plain and one near the campground. Here’s a close-up of the male & female respectively, then some photos showing their environment.
They have a decent sized range in East Africa but the easiest places to find them would be Tarangire NP, Arusha NP and possibly Amboseli in Kenya. The red dot is Tarangire NP location.
And here’s some of my shots of the parakeets in flight. I think the ones with the shorter tails are juveniles.
They have a large range throughout the regions of Andaman islands, Nicobar islands, Sumatra, Borneo and Peninsular Malaysia (including Singapore). The easiest places to find them are Taiping Lake Gardens (blue dot) and occasionally Taman Negara in Malaysia and Singapore.
LEARN MORE ABOUT LONG-TAILED PARAKEETS
