We used to always think the shrill calls we hear regularly were from ordinary starlings, but we soon found out that they were actually from these colourful parakeets! They have a lot of personality 😀
The Long Tailed Parakeet (Psittacula longicauda) is endemic to the Andaman Islands, Nicobar Islands, Sumatra, Borneo, and Peninsular Malaysia (including Singapore). They are mainly found in forest, swamps and mangrove areas. They have a very distinct call and shape when they fly, and are commonly seen in huge groups. These parakeets are mainly green with blue wing feathers and lower back. Their faces are pink with a black stripe on their cheeks. Females have grey beaks while males have bright red-orange ones. Females also have shorter tail feathers, and duller cheeks.
Status: Common resident breeder
Diet: Fruits, seeds, flowers, leaf buds
1 May 2015
We heard their classic call from the sky and managed to catch them flying away! They have a very distinct shape seen from the sky and their long tails are very noticeable!
4 March 2015
Long-Tailed Parakeets are really very colourful! Even the bottom of their wings are a different colour (as you can see, yellow)!
Showing off my wings
Embracing the light
22 February 2015
Here you can see the size of a Long-Tailed Parakeet in comparison to some Pink-Necked Green Pigeons (which are about the size of any ordinary pigeon)!
This is also an example of a male parakeet…
21 February 2015
…while this is a female one!
14 February 2015
7 February 2015
Another wing-show off!
Gnawing on the branches…
How many parakeets can you count in this picture???
(Parakeets like travelling in huge groups such as this one!)
29 January 2015
Look at their colourful backs!
17 December 2015
Picking up some food~
A comparison between the male and female parakeets! (Male is on the bottom left, female is on the top right!)
Look at their wings :O
A whole troop of parakeets!!
Windswept
19 October 2014
A better look at the wings and back of a parakeet! They are very active birds when they’re around so we are able to take lots of great photos of them in flight.
This parakeet seems to have taken an interest in this leaf.
*nom nom* (can you see the bite marks?)
Parakeets in action!
Fluffing up
Itching
Bird Encounters of a Balcony Kind 
A beautiful bird beautifully presented, thanks so much!
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Thank you! 😀 They really are colourful birds!
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Love these birds – it’s one of my chief regrets I’ve seen barely any of them here.
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We actually see them quite frequently around our area (and we definitely hear them!) ! However, we see less of the Red-Breasted Parakeet which we’re hoping to post soon!
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Beautiful pictures! They are lovely birds.. I see them sometimes near my house in these fruit trees that they love to feed on!
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You have many beautiful birds in your country, and you take good pictures too. Good job 🙂
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Thank you so much!!!!! Indeed there are lots of amazing birds in Singapore 🙂 as for the pictures, we had to trash a lot of blurry pictures in order to pick out these ^_^ (ps. your pictures are amazing too!!!)
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Thank you very much. 🙂
I guess you have, there are still many birds not shown in your blog. Have you hornbills?
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Yup, we have hornbills in Singapore! But they aren’t very common visitors to our balcony, unfortunately 😛 you can see a whole list of the birds we have seen here https://birdencountersofabalconykind.wordpress.com/2015/06/12/happy-birthday/ (we’ve actually seen a few more since we wrote the post though (like the owls), heh)
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What gorgeous photos of such beautiful birds!
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