At a time when the question of immigration – illegal or otherwise – is grabbing headlines in western countries, migrants of a different kind have flown under the radar to take up residence in Britain. The suburban and urban streets across southern England are alive with avian foreigners – rose-collared parakeets.
Although parrots are not native to Britain, the skies above London especially are ringing to the whistles and shrieks of the parrakeets which historically are more likely to be found in India.
I had read about the parrot invasion but all the same it came as a shock to stumble upon them during a visit to Britain late last year.
The high-pitched, resonant calls initially came from the red-tiled roof of a grand Victorian house in south London and I didn’t need the binoculars to make an identification. And what a sight they were, in contrast to the more sombre, muted colours of British suburban birds; bright green with red beaks and, in the males, black bibs and extremely long azure tails.
The parakeets now number tens of thousands of birds across cities in northern Europe after originally arriving as caged birds for the pet trade. The wild population has grown from escaped and released birds.
Among those releasing parakeets to bring a little colour to European streets was rock guitarist Jimi Hendrix, reputed to have set parrots free in London’s Carnaby Street in the 1960s.
Beyond adding a splash of colour to London’s birdlife, the parakeets have featured in a study into how wildlife both endemic and introduced is adapting to live in a concrete and glass environment.
The rose-collared parakeet, in fact, is featured in a book Darwin comes to town, in which author Menno Schilthuizen explains how in the “restless laboratory” of the modern city nature has already begun to adapt and engineer its own urban ecosystems.
Although they are tropical birds, the parrots have managed to exploit the heat islands generated at the heart of cities and the fact food is available in winter, largely fruit and nuts put out by bird lovers for resident species.
As for other birds adapting to cities, Schilthuizen points out that city songbirds like great tits and blackbirds have started to sing louder so they can be heard above the noise of traffic. And in a study of starlings introduced from Europe to the North America, it has been found that the American starlings have developed rounded wings to enable more manoeuvrable flight in tight city confines to dodge urban predators like cats. Both introduced blackbirds and starlings are now resident in Tasmania so perhaps the same adaptations apply here.
The shorter wings are being spread in the urban starling gene pool and this tweak to what Charles Darwin named natural selection is happening faster than the great scientist could ever have imaged, says Schilthuizen.