The Lord Derby’s Parakeet (also known as the Derbyan Parakeet or Chinese Parakeet) is a medium-sized parrot from the family Psittaculidae, endemic to the mountain forests of the Himalayas and southern China. It has one of the most striking and recognisable colour patterns among Asian parakeets: a mostly green body with a distinctive lilac-purple breast and belly, a bluish-purple crown, black “moustache” markings running from the bill to the eyes, and a black band across the forehead. Adult males have a bright coral-red upper bill tipped with yellow, while females have a completely black bill — the easiest way to tell the sexes apart. The species is named after Edward Stanley, 13th Earl of Derby, a 19th-century British naturalist.

Key facts

• Scientific name: Psittacula derbiana
• Lifespan: 25–30 years (up to 40 in captivity)
• Body length: 45–50 cm (including tail)
• Weight: about 320 g
• Habitat type: coniferous and mixed pine-oak forests, alpine thickets, cultivated valleys at altitudes of 1,250–4,000 m
• Conservation status: Near Threatened (IUCN, since 2011)

Lifestyle Lord Derby’s Parakeets are social and noisy birds that gather in flocks of around 40 individuals, sometimes forming even larger groups in food-rich areas. They feed on pine seeds, poplar catkins, barley, orchard fruit, berries, leaf buds and occasionally invertebrates. In agricultural areas, they often damage ripening maize and other grain crops. They nest in old tree cavities — usually ones previously excavated by woodpeckers. Their intelligence and beautiful plumage have made this species very popular in the illegal pet trade.

Conservation status The population is declining at a moderately rapid rate. The main threats are the cutting of old trees, which removes critical nesting sites — a pressure that has intensified through house construction and firewood collection even in protected forests — and poaching for the pet trade, where these parakeets fetch high prices on the black market. In 2011, the IUCN Red List uplisted the species from Least Concern to Near Threatened. The species is listed in CITES Appendix II.

Distribution A very restricted range: moist evergreen and coniferous mountain forests where several territories meet — the Indian states of Arunachal Pradesh and Assam, south-eastern Tibet, and the Sichuan and Yunnan provinces of south-western China. It is one of the rarest parakeets of mainland Asia.