Appearance
The nominate subspecies of this parakeet is 29 cm long on average, with a 48 cm wingspan, and weighs 100 g. Females tend to be 10-20% smaller but can only be reliably sexed by DNA blood or feather testing. It has bright green upperparts. The forehead and breast are pale grey with darker scalloping and the rest of the underparts are very-light green to yellow. The remiges are dark blue, and the tail is long and tapering. The bill is orange. The call is a loud and throaty "chape" or "quak quaki quak-wi quarr", and screeches "skveet".Domestic breeds in colors other than the natural plumage have been produced. These include birds with white, blue, and yellow in place of green. As such coloration provides less camouflage, feral birds are usually of wild-type coloration.
Distribution
Self-sustaining feral populations have been recorded in several US states and various countries of Europe, as well as in Brazil, Israel, Bermuda, Bahamas, Puerto Rico and Japan. As it is an open woodlands species, it adapts readily to urban areas.
Uses
Monk Parakeets are highly intelligent, social birds. Those kept as pets routinely develop large vocabularies. They are able to learn scores of words and phrases.References:
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