HYBRIDIZATION – ALEXANDRINE PARROT VS RINGNECK PARROT

HYBRIDIZATION –
ALEXANDRINE PARROT VS RINGNECK PARROT

Text: Zahir Rana

Very often it happens that just before the breeding season, the male or female of a breeding couple dies. Many attempts are made to complete the couple, but often without success. Usually the single bird ends up with other single birds or young birds in an aviary. If the other single and young birds are of the same species, there is nothing to worry about.

Most breeders have several species in their bird collection. The instinct for reproduction is
sometimes so strong that, against nature, pairs are formed with an entirely different species
or subspecies. If there is also a nest box or something similar, then some youngsters can be
produced. The breeder then unconsciously has hybrids or crossings in his bird collection.
It often happens that breeders deliberately breed crossings to breed mutations in other
species or subspecies. Let’s take the Ringneck Parrot (Psittacula krameri) and the
Alexandrine Parrot (Psittacula eupatria) as an example.
The mutations of the Ringneck parrot are becoming more and more affordable for the
common breeder, while there are a few mutations present in the Alexandrine parrot. In
addition, the few mutations of the Alexandrine parrot are not or hardly affordable for the
ordinary breeder.
A lutino Ringneck parrot male with a green Alexandrine parrot female soon produce hybrid
lutino females. Beginners often buy the hybrids as mutations of the Alexandrine parrot due to
the fact they do not know better. While the differences soon become clear after the purchase,
the size is too small, the head and beak are not robust and the most important, the
wingpatch is not nicely red, but more orange-yellow and not always visible in the hybrids.
There are people who try to let you believe that it is a subspecie and that it is the mutation of
a subspecie.
On the contrary, even the subspecies have a dark red to reddish brown wing patch and the
typical robust head of an Alexandrine parrot. The subspecies mainly differ in color and tail
length thus the overall size.
Hybridization for mutations is a long road, often taken by breeders who can’t take the
patience for the natural path. Dominant and sex-linked mutations are easier and faster to
realize than recessive mutations. A dominant or a sex-linked mutation, such as grey-green or
lutino, will theoretically take about 18 years. It takes, theoretically, about 25 years to breed a
blue Alexandrine parrot from hybrids. In practical it can take even longer as the mutation is
an autosomal recessive inheritance, breeding results are not always that satisfying and luck
also plays a major role. The majority of the 25 years are spent restoring the physical traits of
the strain. When one considers that the Alexandrine parrot can have a total length of about
66 cm (Psittacula eupatria nipalensis – Nepalese Alexandrine Parrot) and the Ringneck
parrot only has a length of 42 cm (Psittacula krameri manillensis – Indian Ringneck Parrot), it
is obvious why so many years are needed to regenerate the physical properties and the
characteristics of the Alexandrine parrot. At a certain hybrid generation the hybrids will look
physically pure but genetically you cannot get the 100%, closest will be 99,999%.

However by noticing the next points hybrids can be determined:
– The wingpatch or the lack of wingpatch which is not as dark as the original one and
sometimes it is not there, especially birds bred from Hybrid x Hybrid lack the
wingpatch and some do get it by adulthood.
– The size and the lack of characteristic robust head and beak, hybrids will look like a
large Ringneck parrot. The physical size of hybrid females is better than the hybrid
males; the hybrid males do not show the robust head and the large beak in the early
generations.
– The beak will show black tip due to the black color in the beak of Ringneck parrot for
many generations. The Alexandrine parrot has a yellowish beak tip.
– The Ringneck has a black line from eye to nose which stays in hybrids in many early
generations.
The opinion of many breeders is therefore not to start with this hybridization and is also
strongly discouraged. The species and the mutations should be kept as pure as possible.
Efforts are also being made to breed the few, present mutations of the Alexandrine parrot in
the largest subspecie of the Alexandrine parrot, the Psittacula eupatria nipalensis. This is
done to give the mutations a good size and posture