India GO
Rose-ringed parakeet
तोता (tota)
A slim green parrot with a very long tail. Grown males wear a thin black-and-rose collar; females and young birds have a plain green neck.
👀 How to recognise it
Hearing comes before seeing: a sharp ringing «kee-ak» as a flock cuts across at roof height. Then look for the long tapering tail and the fast straight flight on shallow, stiff wingbeats.
Protection
Schedule II, Wildlife (Protection) Act 1972 - capture and keeping are offences
Where to see it
Bengaluru
Long kept as a cage bird and still the parrot of temple fortune-telling, which is why it is called Rama's parrot in several South Indian languages. Keeping one is now illegal in India.
Lalbagh Botanical Garden · Cubbon Park · Sankey Tank
Delhi
The parrot on a shoulder is a stock image of Indian miniature painting and of the pet trade that once fed on it; trade in Indian parakeets is now illegal, and the birds you see are wild.
Lodhi Garden · Sunder Nursery · Amrit Udyan (Rashtrapati Bhavan Gardens)
Vrindavan
A green parrot sits beside Radha in a great deal of Braj painting, and Shukadeva Goswami, the sage who recites the Bhagavata Purana (the text that made Vrindavan famous), carries the parrot's name, shuka. The parakeet is the bird you will hear most often over Vrindavan's temple lanes.
Vrindavan Parikrama Marg · Gahvar Van · Bhandirvan (Bhandir Vat)
Hyderabad
The parrot on a shoulder is a stock image of Indian miniature painting and of the pet trade that once fed on it; trade in Indian parakeets is now illegal, and the birds you see are wild.
KBR National Park · Hyderabad Botanical Garden (Kotla Vijayabhaskara Reddy) · Lumbini Park and the Boat to the Buddha
Jaipur
The tota is the mount of Kamadeva and a stock character in Rajasthani miniature painting, where a parrot on a woman's wrist carries a message. Jaipur's havelis were built with parapet niches that parakeets still nest in.
Kanak Vrindavan Garden · Central Park · Jhalana Leopard Reserve
Pushkar
Tota is the bird of Kamadeva and the messenger-parrot of Rajasthani miniature painting; the old havelis were built with parapet niches that parakeets still use as nest holes.
Pushkar Lake · Budha Pushkar Lake (Old Pushkar) (often)
Tirumala
Andhra Pradesh notified its own state symbols in May 2018, four years after the bifurcation with Telangana: the rose-ringed parakeet replaced the Indian roller, which Telangana kept, and jasmine replaced the water lily. The blackbuck and the neem were retained.
Sri Venkateswara Zoological Park · Kalyani Dam · Chakra Teertham
Ujjain
The parrot on a shoulder is a stock image of Indian miniature painting and of the pet trade that once fed on it; trade in Indian parakeets is now illegal, and the birds you see are wild.
Naulakhi Eco Tourism Park · Shipra River and Shri Ram Ghat
Varanasi
The parrot on a shoulder is a stock image of Indian miniature painting and of the pet trade that once fed on it; trade in Indian parakeets is now illegal, and the birds you see are wild.
Sarnath Deer Park