Animal-World > Birds > Parakeet: Types of Parakeets > Alexandrine Parakeet

Alexandrine Parakeets

Family: Psittacidae

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Larry is a male Alexandrine ParrotPsittacula eupatriaPhoto Courtesy Kristy

     The Alexandrine Parakeet, like most of the ringnecks, is a very striking bird.

To learn more about Parakeets and their needs visit:
Guide to a Happy, Healthy Parakeet

Scientific name: Psittacula eupatria

Distribution:      The Alexandrine Parakeet is found in Ceylon, eastern Afghanistan, western Pakistan, through India to Indochina, and the Andaman Islands. They live in lowlands and wooded areas such as forests, jungle, and coastal mangroves.

Description:      The Alexandrine Parakeet belongs in the Psittacula genus, that are known as Ringneck Parakeets. This genus has the distinguishing characteristic of a colored collar going around the head in the males, or a pronounced stripe running through the chin area.      The Alexandrine Parakeets have a large head and bill, a sleek body and a long tapered tail. The male has a general green plumage with some grayish-blue on the cheeks and a dark purple-red patch on the wing. There is a faint black stripe from the cere to the eye, a black stripe across the lower cheek, and a wide rose-pink collar. The inner tail feathers are bluish-green with light yellow-white tips and a yellow underside. The beak is a deep red with a paler tip. Their average lifespan is 40 years.      The female is lighter than the male. Females don't have the rose-pink collar or the black stripe across the cheek patches, and they have shorter central tail feathers. These birds grow to a length of 23" (58 cm).

Joey is a female Alexandrine Parrot Photo courtesy: Kristy

Care and Feeding:      Fresh food and water must be provided daily.      In the wild, Alexandrine Parakeets eat a variety of seeds, fruits, nuts, blossoms, leaf buds. In addition to these foods, you can offer them vegetables and commercial pellets. They like nuts with the shells cracked, such as walnuts, pecans and almonds. They also enjoy the same nutritional foods humans eat, including cooked chicken. Cooked beans, rice, and grains are also enjoyed, but soft foods like these will spoil in about 4 hours. See About Parakeets: Care and Feeding for more detailed information.

Housing:      A a roomy cage is required as these are large parakeets. See About Parakeets: Housing for more extensive housing information.

Maintenance:      The basic cage care includes daily cleaning of the water and food dishes. Weekly you should wash all the perches and dirty toys, and the floor should be washed about every other week. A total hosing down and disinfecting of an aviary should be done yearly, replacing anything that needs to be freshened, such as old dishes, toys and perches.

Social Behaviors:      In the wild, these birds live in small flocks during the day, and roost in very large flocks at night.

Handling/Training: See About Parakeets: Handling and Training for detailed information.     

Activities:      Parakeets are very energetic birds! Besides flying, which is important for all parakeets, these birds love to chew! Be sure you provide them with lots of assorted toys and wood chews, perches and swings.

Breeding/Reproduction:      Unlike many parakeets, the Alexandrine Parakeets do not bond with a mate for life. Each pair will need two nesting boxes to choose from with wood shavings as a bedding. Once the nest box is selected the female will lay two to four eggs. Both parents will sit on the eggs. The young leave the nest about six weeks after hatching. The males don't reach their adult plumage until the second year. See About Parakeets: Breeding and Reproduction for more information.

Potential Problems:      These parakeets have a loud call. See About Parakeets: Potential Problems for more information.

Availability:      Alexandrine Parakeets are available from time to time, usually from breeders.

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Latest Comments
We have 3 Alexandrines at the moment, 2 females and a male in the same 3 metre by 3 metre aviary. We also had 2 young, about 6 months in another cage, but they both died very suddenly within a week of each other. We keep the aviary very clean by brushing and hosing the concrete floor every other day to minimize any problems. One of the females is rather aggressive towards the male so we may put her in another cage and see if the male and remaining female will mate. The male is named Poh Jah which means Father in Thai. He is very tame and loves to kiss and be stroked. They love to eat the very hot Thai chillies and leaves of certain trees in our garden. They have 2 large nest boxes mounted high in the aviary and they have been using them now for about 6 months. We have a fishpond and waterfall in the aviary to give our birds some extra water supply if needed. As soon as I go into the aviary, at least 1 bird will fly to my head or shoulder and proceed to nibble at my ear or neck chain. 1 bird has flown away twice but has come back both times. steve 2009-10-25
We live in Brisbane and we bought our Alexandrine (Honey Girl) when she was 3 months old from a pet shop. I am the main carer. I am home all day with her, I feed her and clean her cage. She is out of the cage when we are home. I am so dissappointed as she seems to hate me. She attacks me everytime I put food in her cage. If she is on top of her cage and I go near her she skittles back into her cage. Yet she loves my husband. He is away all day and when he comes home she gets all excited. She runs to him when he goes near the cage. Jumps on his shoulder and nibbles affectionately at his ears and hair, chatters to him... grrrrr. I bought her for me! Helen 2009-10-22
I have had my Alex Tutu for a year and a half now from since he was 4 weeks old. He is part mine and my husbands family. He is my shadow following me everywhere around the house. We clipped his wings when he was younger but they grew back and we noticed that he was flying around a lot more in the house. Yesterday he flew out of my husband's hands when he was bringing him inside and we haven't found him yet. I do hope that he is ok and that he can find his way home as this has upset us very much. We love and adore him as he does and I can't understand why he would do this. Antonella 2009-10-22
We had an alexandrian parakeet. it is 9 months old. We named it tweety. it was very close with us and used to tell so many words including its name very nicely. But unfortunately it flew away last week. We are still in a hope it will come back to us. We don't know whether it will come back to us. We miss him a lot. shanthi 2009-07-27
We have just had our 3 year old male alexandrine parakeet fly away. It has been 3 days now. I don't think he will come back. He did this a few years ago but we were lucky as he stayed local and we found him in a tree in the next suburb. I am having the hardest time at his abscence as I am with him all the time. Usually, I can't even go to the toilet in peace! I hope he will return as we miss him terribly. He is a beautiful bird with an outstanding personality and he can dance! I hope he is safe wherever he is. His name is Simon. We are grateful we had 3 years with him and have lots of photos but I feel he is looking for a mate as he seemed restless and depressed just before he left. We will never forget him. M. Aubrey 2009-03-03
Some of the coolest comments:
I have 12 Alexandrines, 8 of which are trained to do tricks, all started by my first boy Kasuku, he made it very clear he knew what I was saying. So for fun I started to train him and his buddies. This blossomed into the troup of eight clowns who love to show off and entertain folks. This we do every weekend. If you have an Alexandrine as a companion count yourself as one of the lucky people, I see lots of folks saying their Alex is agressive when in the cage, this is very normal. It is his very own piece of real estate and it belongs to only him. As long as he is sweet when out let him have that space. Hey, hey GREEN POWER to all the Alex lovers! Dail Malins 2005-02-19
I removed my three Alexandrines from their nest at two weeks. The three have totally different personalities. All treated the same with am and pm, one on one, as well as group attention. They love their baths and they demand I blow dry them afterwards (this was a daily occurance while I was hand feeding to keep their soft feathers from becoming so dry and mucky). The oldest one is the least friendly, very vicious inside the cage and mellow outside. The middle one, the smartest of all, picks up words constantly at 8 months old and the other two follow its lead. Middle one is very friendly and loves to kiss. Baby is simply a heart stealer. Baby is the clown of the group, extremely passive inside and outside of the cage. Loves to kiss and ride ATVs. Baby will stop playing and run over for a smooch then continue with playing. If a trainer takes a little time with these precious little bodies, marvelous beings can arise. CherokeeCandy 2005-01-01
Comments Dr Jungle REALLY Likes to Hear!
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