DAVID LINDO THE URBAN BIRDER
David looks at an exotic bird which is well established in Spanish cities
The Monk Parakeet was once destined to be a well known member of the British avifauna, but it was not to be. Also known as the Quaker Parakeet, it originally hails from the temperate to subtropical areas of South America. During the 1960s, with the rise of economic prosperity in North America and Europe, the then already burgeoning wild bird trade really started to take off. Long story short, as Monk Parakeets were deemed pests in their natal lands, the wild populations were subjected to unlimited exploitation. While other, scarcer species fetched high prices individually, the Monk Parakeet sale price was low. As a consequence, millions of wild caught birds were transported to homes all over the world. And, as with the far more familiar Ring-necked Parakeet, the eventual global naturalised urban populations of this species are down to escapes and deliberate small scale releases.
To this day, Monk Parakeets are still very common in their native South America; in Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay they are still regarded as major agricultural pests. The main reasons for their continued population explosion seems to be associated with the expansion of eucalyptus for paper pulp production. It offers this parakeet the opportunity to build protected nests in the artificial forests where ecological competition from other species is limited. Coupled with this is the Monk Parakeet’s lifespan. In true parrot fashion, they live for a long time, with birds sometimes popping their clogs well into their thirties, which is towards the maximum lifespans for parakeets in general.
There are self-sustaining populations in cities across the world, from North America, Europe (especially in Spain) across to South Korea and Japan. Interestingly, their survival rates have increased from 61% in South America to upwards of 80% in cities like Barcelona.
In addition to this, they are much more likely to have successful second broods in their adoptive cities. Originally a woodland species, city living has obviously come naturally to this noisy bird. I have watched these birds scoffing fruit from streetside trees in Málaga and Madrid and feeding on the ground alongside bemused Feral Pigeons. Indeed, Spain’s capital has the biggest population of Monk Parakeets in Europe, with c.10,800 individuals in 2015. But they have quickly become a problem in agricultural areas outside of the cities.
