Yunnan village makes pretty profits from parading parakeets

陈小将

For the past 54 years, Wang Cheng has shared his life with some noisy neighbors. Every morning from 5 to 7 and every evening from 5 until sunset, his neighbors fill the air with their chatter, chirps, squawks and trills, seemingly oblivious to the presence of human residents nearby.

"From December to January, during the peak of their mating season, their calls can be heard from my house all day long," Wang said.

These neighbors, however, are not human; they are a species of medium-sized parrot known as Derbyan parakeet (Psittacula derbiana).

Perched on a towering banyan tree right in front of Wang's house, these birds have for generations made their home in Mangba, a village tucked away in Simaogang district of Pu'er city in Southwest China's Yunnan province.

The presence of these parakeets has brought not only noise but also prosperity to the village, which is home to over 250 people of the Blang ethnic group.

Despite the some 300 Derbyan parakeets, also known as Lord Derby's parakeet, creating a vibrant community in Mangba, the species is considered "near threatened" on the International Union for the Conservation of Nature Red List. This is due to its limited habitat in small pockets of evergreen forests in northeastern India and parts of Sichuan and Yunnan provinces, and the Xizang autonomous region in China.

Known as the "parakeet village", Mangba has become the easiest place in the country to observe the magpie-sized birds with green plumage, black lores and lower cheeks and pale yellow eyes, attracting bird-watchers, photographers and nature enthusiasts from far and wide.