The Ring-necked Parakeet Psittacula 
krameri in Jordan 
Coppelia Hays 
Introduction 
The Ring-necked Parakeet Psittacula krameri is the only psittacine regu- 
larly recorded in Jordan (there is a recent record of Alexandrine 
Parakeet P. eupatria from Amman, F. Khoury in litt). A feral popula- 
tion has only recently become established: the first record was of two 
at Aqaba in October 1979 (Wittenberg 1988). This paper is based on 
incidental observations collected between 1987 and 1989^ whilst resi- 
dent in Jordan. 
Status and distribution 
The original distribution of this species is through central and north- 
eastern Africa, and in Asia from Afghanistan, Teheran, Iran 
(Kinzelbach 1986) and western Pakistan east through India and Nepal 
to central Burma and Sri Lanka (Forshaw 1978). It has been intro- 
duced in many countries where it has readily adapted. In Arabia it 
now occurs principally in the coastal urban areas of Kuwait, Bahrain, 
Qatar, United Arab Emirates, the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia 
(Bundy & Warr 1980), northern Oman (Walker 1981) and locally in 
Yemen (Brooks et al. 1987) and western Saudi Arabia (Hollom et al. 
1988, Stagg 1984). In Israel a stable feral population has become estab- 
lished (Paz 1989, Wittenberg 1988). Escapes have also been recorded 
in Damascus, Syria, but the species is apparently now extirpated in 
Iraq, at least north of Basra (Wittenberg 1988). It was reported twice 
in Turkey prior to 1992 (Kasparek 1992) but since then has become 
well established in Ankara, with smaller populations in Burdur, 
Gaziantep, Istanbul and Izmir (G.Magnin and M.Yarar pers.comm.). 
The species is resident and widely distributed in Jordan, having been 
recorded from Amman, Marqa, Madaba, Azraq, Irbid, Aqaba, 
Shaumari and the Jordan Valley (figure 1). Records from Azraq and 
Shaumari apparently relate to local introductions or wandering birds 
(Andrews 1995). It is found in areas with substantial tree cover and 
agricultural areas adjacent to human settlements. The country's main 
agricultural sector is in the Jordan Valley. Ring-necked Parakeets 
have, thus far, only been recorded from the southern part of this val- 
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