Princess  of  Wales
(Polytelis alexandrae)

DESCRIPTION: MALE: olive green crown and nape slightly bluish, throat and cheek patches  pinkish, breast and abdomen bluish green, upper tail coverts and rump violet blue, under tail coverts olive yellow, back and wings pale olive green, wing coverts bright yellowish green, tail underside blackish, red bill, Legs and feet grey. Female: similar just slightly paler in colour.

LENGTH: 15.5 ins

DISTRIBUTION: central and west Australia inland.

HABITAT: dry areas with spinifex and where trees occur along water courses.

STATUS: now rare in the wild.

DIET: a good quality cockatiel/parakeet mix /millet sprays / cuttlefish bone/  fruit / veg /softfood   and mine also like  mealworms occasionally.

BREEDING : breeding occurs in the wild from September to December, but in captivity it can occur at any time of the year. Clutch size is from 3-8 eggs and incubation takes 20-23 days;  fledging takes about 35 days and the young should be independent after a further two weeks. Sometimes they will breed twice in the year and once I had a pair that reared three broods in one year with a total of 16 young reared. Pairs will breed when a year old but normally they will not nest until their second year.

MUTATIONS there are several mutations well established now. The most common being the blue; also there are "Ino" (lutino albino ), Cinnamon and Pied. There are probably more in Europe and Australia.   Hope our members from these areas can let us know what mutations are bred there.

                                                                                                        
Australian Species                                                                                                                           Princess of Wales