Long-tailed parakeet

Long-tailed parakeet
Pair feeding in Queenstown, Singapore
(the male is in the foreground)
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Psittaciformes
Family: Psittaculidae
Genus: Psittacula
Species:
P. longicauda
Binomial name
Psittacula longicauda
(Boddaert, 1783)

The long-tailed parakeet (Psittacula longicauda) or Burung Bayan Nuri in Malay is a parakeet endemic to the regions of Andaman and Nicobar islands, Sumatra, Borneo and Peninsular Malaysia (including Singapore). It is allopatric with the congener, the Red-breasted parakeet, Psittacula alexandri, except in the Andaman islands where they occur together.

Taxonomy

The long-tailed parakeet was described by the French polymath Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon in 1780 in his Histoire Naturelle des Oiseaux.[2] The bird was also illustrated in a hand-coloured plate engraved by François-Nicolas Martinet in the Planches Enluminées D'Histoire Naturelle which was produced under the supervision of Edme-Louis Daubenton to accompany Buffon's text.[3] Neither the plate caption nor Buffon's description included a scientific name but in 1783 the Dutch naturalist Pieter Boddaert coined the binomial name Psittacus longicauda in his catalogue of the Planches Enluminées.[4] The type locality is Malacca on the southern region of the Malay Peninsula.[5] The long-tailed parakeet is now placed in the genus Psittacula that was introduced by the French naturalist Georges Cuvier in 1800.[6][7] The name of the genus is a diminutive of the Latin word psittacus for a "parrot". The specific epithet longicauda combines the Latin longus meaning "long" and cauda meaning "tail".[8]

Five subspecies are currently recognized:[7][9]

Description

It is mainly green with a long blue tail. The male has a black cap and red cheek or face. The female lacks the black cap and has less red cheek.

Habitat

The long-tailed parakeet is able to live in a wide variety of habitats such as in swamp forests, lowland evergreen forest, oil palm plantations, coconut plantations, gardens, public parks, and is a frequent visitor to agricultural areas (especially those who yield tropical fruits and seeds). It is usually seen in elevations of up to 300 meters.[10]

Ecology & Behavior

The long-tailed parakeet is an extremely social bird, always seen communicating with other birds of its species. Even though small groups are usually seen, flocks of thousands of birds have been in the Andaman Islands and Borneo. However, the large flocks tend to appear during breeding season. It is a colony breeder. Birds on the Malay Peninsula tend to breed from December to February while birds on the Nicobar and Andaman Islands tend to breed from February to March. Females tend to lay a clutch of 2 to 4 eggs approximately 30.5 x 24.5mm. It usually takes about 23 to 24 days for the eggs to hatch. Chicks fledge at around 7 weeks old. Its diet consists of a variety of berries, papaya, areca nuts, a wide variety of cultivated and wild fruit, seeds, and cultivated grains such as corn. It is a curious species, as it is often seen playing with sticks or other materials found in its environment.[10] This bird species tend to find a breeding area or nest in a high tree trunk almost same behavioral as the Psittacidae family.

Threats

Much of the long-tailed parakeet's natural habitat is threatened by deforestation and illegal logging. Capture for the illegal pet trade is also a threat to the survival of this species.[10]

  • Female
    Female
  • Squabbing over food (male on right)
    Squabbing over food (male on right)

References

  1. ^ BirdLife International (2018). "Psittacula longicauda". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2018. Retrieved 17 December 2018.
  2. ^ Buffon, Georges-Louis Leclerc de (1780). "La grande perruche à longs brins". Histoire Naturelle des Oiseaux (in French). Vol. 11. Paris: De L'Imprimerie Royale. pp. 217–218.
  3. ^ Buffon, Georges-Louis Leclerc de; Martinet, François-Nicolas; Daubenton, Edme-Louis; Daubenton, Louis-Jean-Marie (1765–1783). "Perruche, de Malac". Planches Enluminées D'Histoire Naturelle. Vol. 9. Paris: De L'Imprimerie Royale. Plate 887.
  4. ^ Boddaert, Pieter (1783). Table des planches enluminéez d'histoire naturelle de M. D'Aubenton : avec les denominations de M.M. de Buffon, Brisson, Edwards, Linnaeus et Latham, precedé d'une notice des principaux ouvrages zoologiques enluminés (in French). Utrecht. p. 53, Number 887.
  5. ^ Peters, James Lee, ed. (1937). Check-list of Birds of the World. Vol. 3. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press. p. 245.
  6. ^ Cuvier, Georges (1800). Leçons d'Anatomie Comparée (in French). Vol. 1. Paris: Baudouin. Table near end.
  7. ^ a b Gill, Frank; Donsker, David, eds. (2019). "Parrots, cockatoos". World Bird List Version 9.2. International Ornithologists' Union. Retrieved 12 August 2019.
  8. ^ Jobling, James A (2010). The Helm Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names. London: Christopher Helm. pp. 229, 321. ISBN 978-1-4081-2501-4.
  9. ^ Collar, N.; Sharpe, C.J.; Boesman, P. (2019). del Hoyo, J.; Elliott, A.; Sargatal, J.; Christie, D.A.; de Juana, E. (eds.). "Long-tailed Parakeet (Psittacula longicauda)". Handbook of the Birds of the World Alive. Lynx Edicions. Retrieved 12 August 2019.
  10. ^ a b c "Long-tailed Parakeet (Psittacula longicauda)". Parrot Encyclopedia. World Parrot Trust. Retrieved 2017-01-22.