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From: gpwrmdh@gp.co.nz
Newsgroups: rec.birds
Subject: Re: Wild Parakeets
Message-ID: <1991Apr28.164957.1504@gp.co.nz>
Date: 28 Apr 91 04:49:57 GMT
References: <1991Apr26.120308.2658@eagle.lerc.nasa.gov>
Organization: GP Print Ltd, Wellington, New Zealand
Lines: 32

In article <1991Apr26.120308.2658@eagle.lerc.nasa.gov>, xxbruce@convx1.lerc.nasa.gov (Bruce Canright) writes:
>   For several years now we've enjoyed parakeets in our house
> and sometimes wonder what they are liks in "the wild". Are
> they native to Australia? Anyone seen (flocks of) them there?
> What is their diet? and so on...

In New Zealand we have two main species of parakeets (the red-crowned and 
the yellow-crowned), which are also known as kakariki. They are not very 
common on the mainland, but I thrive on some of the offshore islands. 
Subspecies occur on some island groups, such as the Chathams, Antipodes, 
and Kermadecs. So I am afraid that I have not actually seen many of these 
birds in the wild.

The food is shoots, seeds, and other vegetable matter, according to the
book I am looking at (Birds of New Zealand and Outlying Islands,
M.F.Soper). Both types of parakeet are predominantly green, with some
colouring on the head. The Antipodes Island parakeet is green almost all
over. 

Another book (New Zealand Birds in Focus, Geoff Moon) says of the
red-crowned "It feeds on vegetable matter such as buds and shoots of a 
variety of shrubs, seeds and flowers."

They lay 5 to 9 eggs in a clutch, and both parents feed the chicks.

-- 
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Martin D. Hunt			
GP Print Limited		USEnet address : martinh@gp.co.nz
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