Yellow-crowned Parakeet Pictures - Photos
16 images Created 25 Aug 2009
All six New Zealand parakeets are endemic. The smallest is the yellow-crowned parakeet (Cyanoramphus auriceps), at just 24 cm.
Parakeets are also known as kakariki (little kaka). The Maori saying 'ko te rua porete hai whakarite', meaning 'just like a nest of kakariki', was used to describe a group of people gossiping excitedly. This is because kakariki make a chattering call as they fly and while feeding. In autumn and winter they search for food in flocks, but are more solitary during the breeding season.
They live in conifer-broadleaf and beech forest as well as scrub, in both the North and South islands. They mainly feed in the treetops, eating scale insects, leaf miners and aphids, the buds or flowers of k?nuka, r?t? and beech, and beech seeds. They usually nest in holes in old trees.
On the mainland the yellow-crowned species are more widespread and common than red-crowned parakeets, but on predator-free islands the red-crowned species dominates.
Parakeets are also known as kakariki (little kaka). The Maori saying 'ko te rua porete hai whakarite', meaning 'just like a nest of kakariki', was used to describe a group of people gossiping excitedly. This is because kakariki make a chattering call as they fly and while feeding. In autumn and winter they search for food in flocks, but are more solitary during the breeding season.
They live in conifer-broadleaf and beech forest as well as scrub, in both the North and South islands. They mainly feed in the treetops, eating scale insects, leaf miners and aphids, the buds or flowers of k?nuka, r?t? and beech, and beech seeds. They usually nest in holes in old trees.
On the mainland the yellow-crowned species are more widespread and common than red-crowned parakeets, but on predator-free islands the red-crowned species dominates.
