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The Rose-ringed Parakeet (Psittacula krameri), also known as the Ring-necked Parakeet, is a gregarious tropical Afro-Asian parakeet species that has an extremely large range. Since the trend of the population appears to be increasing, the species has been evaluated as Least Concern by IUCN in 2009.^[1]

Rose-ringed parakeets are popular as pets. Its scientific name commemorates the Austrian naturalist Wilhelm Heinrich Kramer.^[2]

This non-migrating species is one of few parrot species that have successfully adapted to living in 'disturbed habitats', and in that way withstood the onslaught of urbanisation and deforestation. In the wild, this is a noisy species with an unmistakable squawking call.

Description

Rose-ringed parakeets measure on average 40 cm (16 in) in length including the tail feathers. Their average single wing length is about 15–17.5 cm (5.9–6.9 in). The tail accounts for a large portion of their total length.

The Rose-ringed parakeet is sexually dimorphic. The adult male sports a red neck-ring and the hen and immature birds of both sexes either show no neck rings, or display shadow-like pale to dark grey neck rings

this pair was doing the beak-lock,a common act among parakeet pairs.

Phylogeny and distribution

Four subspecies are recognized, though they do not differ much:

• African subspecies:

African-ringnecked (aka ARN) Parakeet (P. krameri krameri): West Africa in Guinea, Senegal and southern Mauritania, east to Western Uganda and Southern Sudan.

Abyssinian-ringnecked (aka Aby-RN) Parakeet (P. krameri parvirostris): Northwest Somalia, west across northern Ethiopia to Sennar district, Sudan.

• Asian subspecies:

Indian-ringnecked (aka IRN) Parakeet (P. krameri manillensis) originates from the southern Indian subcontinent and has feral and/or naturalized populations worldwide. In Australia, Great Britain (mainly around London), the United States, and other western countries, it is often referred to as the Indian Ring-Necked Parakeet/Parrot.

Boreal or Neumann's ringnecked (aka BRN) Parakeet (P. krameri borealis) is distributed in Bangladesh, Pakistan, northern India and Nepal to central Burma; introduced populations worldwide in localities.

A phylogenetic analysis using DNA (see Psittacula) showed that the Mauritius Parakeet (Psittacula echo) is closely related to this species, and probably needs to be placed between the African and Asian subspecies. Consequently, this species is paraphyletic.

Diet

Chicks in tree hole

In the wild, Rose-ringed parakeets usually feed on buds, fruits, vegetables, nuts, berries and seeds. Wild flocks also fly several miles to forage in farmlands and orchards causing extensive damage. They have been found to feed extensively on pigeon pea (Cajanus cajan) during winter in India.^[3] They also breed during winter unlike most other South Asian birds.^[4]

Aviculture

Rose-ringed Parakeets are popular as pets and they have a long history in aviculture. The ancient Greeks kept the Indian subspecies P. krameri manillensis, and the ancient Romans kept the African subspecies P. krameri krameri. Colour mutations of the Indian-ringnecked Parakeet subspecies have become widely available in recent years.^[5]

Mimicry

Both males and females have the ability to mimic human speech. First it listens to its surroundings, and then it copies the voice of the human speaker. Some people hand-raise Rose-ringed parakeet chicks for this purpose. Such parrots then become quite tame and receptive to learning. They can also show emotions similar to human beings and adjust easily to family life. They take time to mimic.^{[citation needed]}

• Examples of Indian-ringnecked Parakeet colour mutations in aviculture
• 

  Blue mutation

• 

  Female is a Parblue Grey and the male is a Parblue Pallid (uncommon mutations).

• 

  Female is Lutino, male is Cinnamon Parblue (both juveniles).

• 

  Albino male

• 

  Pallid mutations

• 

  Indo-Pak Parrot

• 

  Several colour mutations

Feral birds

A feral female in a garden in Bromley, London

The Rose-ringed Parakeet has established feral populations in India, a number of European cities, South Africa and Japan. There are also apparently stable populations in the USA (Florida, California and Hawaii) and a small self-sustaining population in Tunis, Tunisia, and Tehran, Iran (concentrated in the north side of the city). They are also found throughout Lebanon, Israel, UAE, Bahrain, Qatar, and Oman. There are a small number of escaped birds in Australia.

The European populations became established during the mid to late 20th century from introduced and escaped birds. There are two main population centres in Britain: the largest is based around south London, where they can be regularly seen in places such as Battersea Park, Richmond Park, and Hampstead Heath; the smaller population can be seen in Esher and Berkshire, and by 2005 consisted of many thousands of birds, known as the Kingston parakeets. The winter of 2006 saw three separate roosts of circa 6000 birds around London^[6] A smaller population occurs around Margate, Broadstairs and Ramsgate, Kent. Elsewhere in Britain, smaller feral populations have become established from time to time (e.g., at Studland, Dorset, Kensington Gardens, and South Manchester). It has been suggested that feral parrots could endanger populations of native British birds, and that the Rose-ringed Parakeet could even be culled as a result.^[7] A major agricultural pest in locations such as India, as of 2011 the Rose-ringed Parakeet population is growing rapidly but is generally limited to urban areas in southern England^[8] where their preferred diet of seed, nut, fruits, and berries are available in suburban gardens and bird feeders.^[9]

In the Netherlands, the feral population in the four largest urban areas (Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Utrecht and especially in The Hague) has been estimated at more than 10,000 birds, more than double the number of birds estimated in 2004.^[10] There also exists a feral population in Belgium, with as many as 5,000 pairs estimated in Brussels.^[11] These originate from an original population that was set free in 1974 by the owner of the Meli Zoo and Attraction Park near the Atomium who wanted to make Brussel more colourful. In Germany, these birds are found along the Rhine in all major urban areas like Cologne, Bonn, Ludwigshafen and Heidelberg, Wiesbaden and in the northeast of Hamburg. Other populations are found around Paris, Rome – notably in the gardens of the Palatine Hill and at Villa Borghese -, in Barcelona and in Lisbon.^[12]

The specimens in these naturalized populations often represent intra-specific hybrids, originally between varying numbers — according to locality — of the subspecies manillensis, borealis, and/or (to a lesser extent) krameri along with^{[verification needed]} some inter-specific hybrids with naturalized Psittacula eupatria (Alexandrine Parakeet).

However, in some parts of South Asia—from where the Rose-ringed Parakeets originated—populations of these birds are decreasing due to trapping for the pet trade. Despite some people's attempts to revive their population by freeing these birds from local markets, the Rose-ringed Parakeet's population has dropped drastically in many areas of the Indian subcontinent.

References