Malabar parakeet

Abstract: The Malabar Parakeet Psittacula columboides is one of 16 bird species endemic to the Western Ghats, India (Stattersfield et al. 1998). It occurs in the Western Ghats from north Maharasthra to south Kerala, chiefly between 500 and 1,500 m (Ali and Ripley 1987). Although a common endemic (Gaston and Zacharias 1996), the Malabar Parakeet is poorly studied. We investigated the foraging and breeding behaviour of this species in the moist deciduous forest of the Siruvani foothills, Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, India, from October 1995 to April 1996. The Siruvani foothills lie in the core area of the Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve from 10o56 ́N to 10o58 ́N and from 76o42 ́E to 76o44 ́E, at an elevation of 350–650 m. The area receives both south-west and north-east monsoons, with a mean annual rainfall of c.840 mm. The river Noyil drains this area. The vegetation type has been classified as southern tropical moist deciduous forest (Champion and Seth 1968), which merges with southern tropical evergreen forests at higher elevations in Muthikolam area of Kerala state. The commonest tree species in the study area are Lagerstroemia lanceolata, Terminalia bellirica, Terminalia paniculata, Antidesma diandrum, Bauhinia malabarica, and Bauhinia racemosa (Gokula et al. 1999).