The Grey Parrot (Psittacus erithacus) also known as the African Grey Parrot is a parrot native to Africa. It is also a very popular caged bird, due to its sensitivity, intelligence and ability to mimic human speech.
Due to its popularity, intelligence and high maintenance, it is just a matter of time before one escape or is released by its owner. In land-scarce Singapore, there are not many places suitable for the parrot to live in the wild. One such place is Malcolm Park where tall trees and ample supply of food made it a haven for parrots of all sorts. There were native parrots and parakeets such as the Blue-crowned Hanging Parrots and Long-tailed Parakeets, as well as introduced species like the Red-breasted Parakeets, Rose-ringed Parakeets, Coconut Lorikeets, Tanimbar Corellas, Sulphur-crested Cockatoo as well as a single Grey Parrot.
This Grey Parrot has been reported at the vicinity since at least 2005. One day in August 2011, I finally managed to see it on a walkabout. The parrot was first observed perched very high up on a tall tree. Eventually it did come down to a lower tree permitting photography and video. On closer examination, this is the subspecies erithacus, also known as Congo African Grey Parrot. It is bigger in size and have a red tail, in comparison to another equally popular parrot called the Timneh Parrot (Psittacus erithacus timneh)
In the video below, the bird was very concerned due to the commotion and noise caused by Tanimbar Corellas actively defending their roosting hole from a Clouded Monitor.