The blossom-headed parakeet (Psittacula roseata) is a parrot in the family Psittaculidae.
Two subspecies are recognised:[1]
Himalayapsitta roseata is a lime-green parrot, long with a tail up to . The male's head is pink becoming pale blue on the back of the crown, nape and cheeks. There is a narrow black neck collar and a black chin stripe. There is a red shoulder patch and the rump and tail are bluish-green, the latter tipped yellow. The upper mandible is yellow, and the lower mandible is dark. The female has a pale grey head and lacks the black neck collar and chin stripe patch. The lower mandible is pale. Immature birds have a green head and a grey chin. Both mandibles are yellowish and there is no red shoulder patch.[2] The different head colour and the yellow tip to the tail distinguish this species from the similar plum-headed parakeet (H. cyanocephala).
This species is a resident breeder in Eastern Bangladesh, Bhutan, Northeast India and Nepal, eastwards into Southeast Asia (Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam) and also China. Blossom-headed parakeet inhabits lowland and foothill open forests and forest edges. [3]
Blossom-headed parakeet nests in holes in trees, laying 4-5 white eggs. It undergoes local movements, driven mainly by the availability of the fruit and blossoms which make up its diet. It is a gregarious and noisy species with range of raucous calls. [4]