Green Parrots take over a Norway Spruce in Madrid

Recently while visiting a friend I was shown this very remarkable Norway Spruce tree full of bird nests. There are so many large nests in this tree that it is bit difficult to see what kind of tree it is. It does not take too long however to discover the type of birds that are responsible for this mass of twigs. After standing watch for a few minutes I witnessed several medium sized green parrots. From what I have found on the internet these parrots go by the name "Monk Parakeet" (Myiopsitta monachus) and are originally from Argentina.
I did not get a picture of these birds in the Norway Spruce but I had seen them and photographed these same birds last year in Malaga. In that case they were making their nest in an Gum tree (Eucalyptus camaldulensis) and I was able to take a picture of a pair sitting on their front porch.
For some reason these birds only nest (as far as I can tell) in this one tree species in Malaga. As I followed a road lined with these Eucaluptus trees almost every one of them had from two to twenty large nests in their branches much like the tree in the picture below (the dark masses of twigs are the nests). These birds are not native to Spain but are probably a species that has "gone wild" after having escaped or been set free by their owners.

3 comments:

  1. OMG! what an unusual view. It is hardly to see the tree...

    ReplyDelete
  2. Monk parakeets, also known as Quaker parakeets, have formed large colonies in Brooklyn, New York. They nest on top of electrical transformers and in the carved stone gate of a cemetary.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Nice to know they are sucedding elsewhere. These parakeets are native to Argentina, Uruguay and southern Brazil where they are called "cotorras" or "catorritas".

    ReplyDelete