Red Rumped Parakeets

NAME:
Eng. Red Rumped Parakeets, Red Rump Parrot, Rumped Parakeet
Lat. Psephotus Haematonotus

On the photo you can see a male red rumped parakeet. The photo is taken from the mine friend aviary.

ORIGIN: Southwest Australia including the area of Cooper's Creek, northeastern areas of South Australia and northwestern areas of Queensland.

PHYSICAL APPEARENCE: Their size is 27 cm (11 in). It belongs to the medium-sized class of parrots. The cheeks and the front part of the head of a male, as it is found in the wilderness, are blue-green in color, while the lores and the back part of the head, neck, and chest are emerald green. The abdomen is distinctly yellow and the lower part of the tail is white-greyish towards the front. Its wings are blue and the feathers of the secondaries-wings are green in color. Middle-tail feathers are green-blue with black edgings while the outer tail feathers are blue-green with white edgings. The rump, after which this species got the name, is red. The sex is distinguishable. The female is a mild-olive color, the wings are black and olive, but little darker and more scaly. Check our red rumped parrot picture gallery.

On the photo you can see a female red rumped parrot bird .

KEEPING: It is best to keep rumped parrots in pairs because their vocal expressiveness is more easily evoked when there is company. Taming is hard and only possible with a lot of effort and time. They can rarely learn to imitate speech, but they make up for it with their unusually beautiful singing. Socilization is much easier for younger birds than for older birds, so when buying a parrot one should bear in mind to get as young a bird as possible. A cage of medium dimensions will be enough for their keeping. Draught winds and direct sunlight can be harmful to these birds, so one must take this fact into cosideration when setting up their living area. They love bathing. One can splash them with a light sprinkle of water once or twice a week.

Taming of rumped parrots is hard and only possible with a lot of effort and time.

DIET of Red Rumped Parrakeets: Apart from millet and canary seeds, which are the main elements of the mixture for these birds, there are also shelled oats, hemp, black seeds, flax and seeds of saffron. The sunflower seeds can be offered in small doses. Various fruits and vegetables, they like apples and carrot the most, and leafy vegetables such as chickory and spinach are good choices. Minerals are also included. Boiled eggs and bugs are among their favorite foods.

BREEDING of Red Rumped Parrakeets: Breeding of these parrots is not a problem. During breeding season, they show aggressiveness so it is better to separate each pair. One has to provide a space big enough so each pair can establish his own territory with a nest. Aviaries for a pair don't need to be big and it is not rare for them to breed in a larger cage. The nest should be put on a higher place within the aviary or cage. The most suitable dimnesions for a nest are: 22 cm (9 in) in width and length and 30 cm (12 in) in height. Breeding begins in April. A female clutches 5-7 eggs, and incubation lasts for 19 days.

Nice pair of Red Rump parrots. Breeding is not a problem.

A male feeds his female which does not leave the nest in the period of incubation, except in the case of danger. In the beginning, a female fed by a male, takes care of the younglings, but after 12 days, a male also participates in the feeding. Younglings leave the nest after 28 days and become independent 14 days after leaving the nest. The younglings are separated from their parents 4 weeks after leaving the nest. They usually breed twice a year. They are generally good parents that never abandon their younglings.

INTERESTING FACTS: Red Rumped Parrakeets life span is about 15 years.
They are consistently good parents and rarely mistreat their younglings.
They rarely imitate human speech.Producing sounds is not one of their characteristics. Their noises are more similar to singing.
In nature they live in large flocks and each bird has a determined hierarchical role in its flock.