[ parrots squawking ]
Oh—hey! You guys behave—you guys be friends.
[ parrots squawking ]
Let’s share.
I have one on my head now.
Parakeets of London!
I’ll tell you where to find them
and some cool facts so you can sound savvy
when you’re talking to your buddies about them.
[♪ theme music ♪] [ parrots chirping in background]
[♪ upbeat music ♪]
Intercom: ‘Welcome aboard the Southern Service to London Victoria.’
♪
Hey guys, Koaw here.
So I am in the UK.
I’m in London right now.
I just came up from Oxted because in Oxted I saw two parrots flying around.
And I was like, “Why are parrots here!?”
And so I looked into it
and it turns out there are a whole bunch of invasive parrots
that have now established breeding territories—
There are broods here in London. So I’m going to find them. Let’s go!
So I found this lovely British girl named Pip.
She’s going to be my guide
to finding these parakeets.
And thank you—let’s go.
♪♪
So Pip, where are we headed right now?
-Hyde Park.
-Hyde Park right?
Okay. Is it over there? -Yes it is.
Pip is taking me into Hyde Park
which is similar to New York City’s Central Park.
We’ll start here on our quest to find the parakeets.
[many birds squawking and chirping and honking]
Okay, so we’re in Hyde Park.
We’ve seen a couple of parakeets flying around.
But check this out—there is no shortage of birds here.
There are geese, swans, pigeons, starlings—
Contrary to popular belief,
the Queen does not own all the swans in the UK—
but she technically has ownership rights over most mute swans.
This is a beautiful park
and we’re seeing many species of birds—
but we’ll keep exploring until we find the hotspot
for interacting with these parakeets.
So we’re done messing around with all these birds
and what part are we going to? What’s it called?
-Kensington Gardens. -Kensington Gardens.
Pip: Mhmm hmm—right next to Kensington Palace.
Let’s do it.
Parakeets! Come on! I can see them!
We’ve found a great spot with many, many parakeets—
This is about halfway up on the west side of the Long Water
on the east side in Kensington Gardens.
So we’ve just arrived here.
We could see people feeding these parakeets from far away.
And as an evolutionary biologist,
this is fascinating
because we love observing populations change over time.
And this of course is an invasive species,
these green birds behind me.
They’re from—this particular subspecies
is from India but there is speculation that
there is intraspecific hybridization.
That just means that within the species,
of the four subspecies,
they’re crossbreeding.
So we really don’t know what subspecies this is
but they are invasive.
They have found a home here in London.
Of the four subspecies of the rose-ringed parakeet,
two are native to Africa and two are native to Asia.
The larger Asiatic subspecies
have established a home here in London,
where it is theorized,
based upon wing, toe-length and bill measurements,
as well as variance in bill colorations,
that a hybrid of the two Asiatic subspecies exists.
This interbreeding of subspecies is called intraspecific hybridization
where 'intra' just means ‘within’
and 'specific' means ‘a species.’
Whether the intraspecific hybridization
occurred in the native ranges or here in England—
that is still up to speculation.
Either way, tens of thousands of rose-ringed parakeets call the UK home.
But now I want to interact with some wild parakeets!
♪
And all we need is an apple to attract ‘em.
[birds chirping and squawking]
[parrot squawking angrily]
Koaw: Oh that’s your apple. You—you not giving that up!
This species of parrot—
these subspecies exhibit sexual dimorphism
which means that the males and females have differing characteristics.
So the males within the species
are the ones with the red and black necks.
So that right there is a male
that just pushed the female or young male off of this apple.
So you are a little bit of a bully—aren’t you?
Sexual dimorphism is common in many species.
This is when the male and female of a same species
exhibit differing characteristics beyond their sexual organs.
The males of Psittacula krameri
have an obvious ring around their neck of black, red, orange and blue—
hence the name rose-ringed or ring-necked parakeet.
The females, also known as hens, and the immature males
have no ring around the neck
or they may have a pale green or grey ring,
but nothing as pronounced and colorful as the males.
Oh, and FYI:
Any parakeet is a type of parrot
but not all parrots are parakeets.
Just like any toad is a type of frog
but not all frogs are toads.
So my guide here is actually afraid of the birds, I’ve learned.
And she doesn’t want ‘em near her.
[Pip laughs nervously]
Koaw: Look! You’ve got one. You got one.
Pip: It took my apple!
Koaw: You didn’t hold your apple tight! Hold the apple tight right?
Remember to hold onto your apple. They will fly off with them.
Koaw: Thanks for guiding me to the parakeets.
-You’re welcome. [Nervous noises] There’s one right in front of you!
Koaw: Hey! They just stole the whole apple!
Pip: Go, go, go get the apple! There’s one on your head still!
Koaw: Hey guys. I’m going to borrow the apple back.
Also, they may lightly nibble at your neck and ears
if they don’t feel you are sharing food with them.
These are ring-necked parakeets.
They’re parrots that are—
Hey let’s not nibble on my neck.
Owwww—that really hurts!
That one was biting me.
[parrot squawking]
So I ran out of food and this male right here
was nibbling on the other side of my neck.
And I think Pip got a good photo of that. I’ll show that now.
You are a rude little ****er.
[Parrot squawks in reply]
So these parakeets are an invasive species here
but they’ve been established for
maybe forty years with successful breeding populations
so they’re considered naturalized.
And, of course, I guess here in London
we’d have to spell that with an ‘s’ unlike how we spell it in the U.S. with a ‘z’.
So you are just a beautiful invasive species.
And they do have to compete with the grey squirrels
which are also an invasive species
that have pushed out the red squirrel—the indigenous population.
Sup bro?
I bet this guy is going to try and bite me.
Do it. I dare you. I dare you!
Bite me. I dare you.
There is much speculation as to how the parakeets
have been and will impact the local ecosystem.
Just like all animals, they need food to eat and space to live and breed
so they can survive and pass on their genetic coding.
This in turn creates competition with other animals, like other birds.
Farmers are finding them to be a pest
but it has been proposed the raptor populations
around urban areas are benefitting from the parakeets.
More prey to eat.
I even observed an interspecific territorial dispute
between some grey squirrels and a pair of rose-ringed parakeets.
They were not friendly neighbors.
A battle of the invasive species!
Their aggressiveness is a reason why
both species have been successful colonizers.
[intense music sting]
One of my Patreon Patrons (Boudicca)
wondered how they were faring under global warming.
Well, like most all parakeets,
the indigenous habitats of these birds
exists in the tropics and subtropics
where temperatures can become very warm,
ergo the gradual warming in the northerly latitudes of England
is probably quite comfortable.
And as far as being able to survive the cold winters
in places like England,
many specimens of the rose-ringed parakeet
that were captured and brought to England
came from populations that lived in India and Nepal
at elevations above 1800 meters,
in the mountainous region of the Himalayas.
So if it truly is a hybrid subspecies living in England,
made up from Psittacula krameri manillensis,
coming from the warm temperatures in southern India
and P. k. borealis,
coming from the chillier high elevation ranges
like that of northern India and Nepal,
it would seem appropriate that a hybrid subspecies is doing so well
in the temperate climate of the United Kingdom.
But as far as the actual origin of these birds—
no one really knows.
I heard stories of the parrots being released from a big movie set
and also a story about parrots escaping the gardens of a psychiatric ward.
However, they have been popular in aviculture for quite some time—
So it may have been that enough breeding pairs escaped
or were released into the wild until naturalization occurred.
Parakeets galore. Just kick’n it.
Oh—hey! You guys behave—you guys be friends.
[ parrots squawking ] Let’s share.
I have one on my head now.
Good times.
An American in London and some parakeets.
So some people come to London
to see the museums, the monuments,
get a bit of the history—
I came to see the parakeets and I was not dissatisfied.
It was very cool.
Thank you Pip for showing me around.
You’re welcome.
♪
If you also come to Holland Park,
you can find peacocks walking around.
It’s pretty cool.
Like the video if ya found it helpful!
As always: Spread some knowledge. Be nature-heroic. (Edited CC by Koaw 2020)