Little Poll Parrot

Two of the beauties we spotted

Last weekend, during our bird walk in Liverpool Sefton Park I heard the squawking call of a very familiar bird. It was coming from the tall trees in the wooded area to my left. I stopped in my track as I took out my binoculars and started gazing into the trees from where the call was heard. My wife Nisha came up from behind and confirmed my doubt that it was indeed the call of a Rose-ringed Parakeet. No sooner did she say that, than we saw a couple of parakeets fly out and disappear into another set of trees 50 metres away. And in the next few minutes, we saw at least 4 parakeets fly in and out of the woods with all the squealing and squawking. Though we did not get any good photographs, we could capture few record shots of this magnificent bird.

During my growing up years in North Indian cities, we used to see this bird fly across the blue sky into any wooded area or a garden. These birds have always been part of Indian folklore, songs & culture. I have always considered them a common Indian bird, just like a mynah or a bulbul. One of my friends in Lucknow had this exotic, beautiful looking bird as a pet. These birds were excellent mimics and when trained could speak in the native language. We would spend hours feeding it with chillies & nuts and enjoy its ‘Namaste’. Of course, in those days we called it a Parrot. And it was only after my bird watching hobby picked up that I learned that Vernal Hanging Parrot was the only “Parrot” found in India and what we admired was actually a Parakeet, specifically a Rose Ringed Parakeet.

Rose Ringed Parakeet is a medium sized gregarious bird with yellow-green plumage, hooked reddish-pinkish beak and long graduated tail. As the name suggests, the male sports a reddish – pinkish neck ring whereas the female and juvenile birds of both sexes either show no neck rings or display shadow-like pale to dark grey neck rings. In the wild, rose-ringed parakeets usually feed on nuts, berries, seeds, buds, fruits & vegetables. This bird is found across India right from foothills of Himalayas to the plains, urban areas, open countryside with trees, dry and open forest, semi-desert areas, open bushy areas, wooded valleys and evergreen forests.

And when I sighted this bird the first time in the Britain at Sefton Park last year, I was thrilled and happy as if I were meeting an old acquaintance. There was another sighting of this bird at the Greenwich Park in London in May this year. It is indeed a marvel of nature that a tropical Indian bird has so well adapted to the British climate and conditions, especially the harsh winters. These birds probably first came from India to Britain as pets but then escaped into the wild. The first reported breeding in the wild took place in 1969 and since then there has been a rapid increase in their numbers. The current RSPB official counts pegs at a breeding population of 8600 pairs. There are now large flocks residing in South East England, in London parks (all the 33 London boroughs have reported this species), North West, Scotland and other parts of the country.

On the other hand, it is now believed that these naturalised species have started to have had a direct impact on the dwindling numbers of the resident British bird species like nuthatches, woodpeckers, starlings, tits...etc. There is fierce competition not only for food but also for nest holes - the parakeet starts nesting early in Feb, much before the other British resident birds. Some experts are also comparing parakeets with the grey squirrels that have largely driven out the red squirrels across Britain. To safeguard the native species, there have been calls for culling of the parakeets, however, RSPB is not in favour of such a move and advocates close monitoring of the growing number of parakeets and its negative impact. Though an introduced species, the parakeets are nevertheless protected in the wild under the Wildlife and Countryside Act.

This is the story of the Rose-Ringed Parakeet which initially arrived in Britain on a Pet visa (Tourist visa) converted it into Migration visa (Work Permit) and finally became a resident citizen. Due to the rising numbers, the original resident species feeling threatened call for culling and extermination of the migrated species. Eerie coincidence!! Heard this argument somewhere?