Monk Parakeet

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Monk parakeet on a tree
Pla de Palau
Barcelona, March 2017

“Seven species of parrot are thriving right here in urban Barcelona—the highest number of parrot species in any European city. ‘We don’t think temperature is a factor,’ said Abel Julien of the Institut Català d’Ornitologia, who has studied birds in Catalunya for more than 30 years and works as a nature tour guide. ‘They will stay in their colonised environments provided there is enough food for them throughout the year.’ First spotted in the city in 1975, their numbers were estimated at a mere 50, but with a vertiginous growth rate, there are now thought to be more than 10,000 parrots living in the Barcelona metropolitan area. Among the species in Barcelona are monk parrots, named thus for the hood-like markings on their crown and nape of bright-green and grey feathers. At less than 30 centimetres in length, they are considered tiny for a parrot. Larger than the monks—think parrot-on-pirate-shoulder size—rose-ringed parakeets have powder-blue napes, tropical-green breasts and flesh-coloured or scarlet bills.” (Birds of a feather: Barcelona's tropical parrots, Metropolitan Barcelona)