Do you know which parrots can we find in Europe in the WILD?

Invasive species

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Surprisingly, when you want to see parrots in the wild you don’t need to go to South America, Africa or Australia because there are 12 invasive parrot species living in Europe. That’s why Spanish authorities banned breeding of the Indian Ring-neck Parrot, Quaker Parrot and other potentially invasive species. However, this issue goes for more European countries.

Germany: Amazona, Psittacula and Quaker parrots

Feral population of parrots live practically in all countries of South Europe and Benelux. We will find them in Germany as well. Germany is also the only country where wild colonies of amazon parrots live. For example, in Stuttgart there is a population of 50 Double Yellow-headed Amazons (Amazona oratrix) with a few Blue-fronted Amazons as well. The birds also nest at this place.

There are two species of Psittacula parrots in Germany – the very common Indian Ring-neck Parrot (Psittacula krameri) and the Alexandrine Parrot. The latter species is according to European Exotics database found in the southwest of the country and in Amsterdam as well.

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Double-yellow Headed Amazon Parrots in Stuttgart. (c) ibc.lynxeds.com/Klaus Lachenmaier

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Spain: paradise for Arantinga parrots, especially in Barcelona

Spain is literally the paradise for invasive parrot species in Europe. In Barcelona, we can find mixed colonies of four conure species – Mitred Conure (Aratinga mitrata), Red Masked Conure (Aratinga erythrogenys), Blue-crowned Conure (Aratinga acuticaudata) and Nanday Conure (Nandayus nenday). They are found only in cities and parks, never in open areas.

However, Indian Ring-neck Parrots and Quaker Parrots live in whole country in thousands. Invasive species are found also on Canary Islands. For example, there is a big feral population on Tenerife. We can find wild budgies on this island as well.

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France: colonies of Agapornis parrots

In South France on Saint Jean Cap peninsula near to Nice there are large colonies of Masked Loverbirds (Agapornis personata) and Fischer’s Lovebirds (Agapornis fischeri). Local conditions are just perfect for them. The temperature never falls bellow zero, only three months in a year it’s lower than 10°C. In colonies, there are wild colored individuals as well as mutations. Both species hybridize there. On the other hand, France doesn’t face to large numbers of other invasive parrot species.

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Lovebirds in France (c) Marinus van Opzeeland. This file is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.0 Generic license.

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United Kingdom: Psittacula, Aratinga and Agapornis Parrots

There are two species of Psittacula genus living in feral population on UK – the Indian Ringneck and the Alexandrine Parro (Psittacula eupatria). We can find also a smaller population of Peach-faced Lovebirds (Agapornis roseicollis) in Scotland. However, in comparison with loverbirds in France, local conditions are not so favourable.

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Title photo: (c) Dawn Endico. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license.

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