London - a city of green parrots (6 photos)

London is famous for its large population of Indian ring-necked parakeets. These bright green birds once escaped from captivity and have successfully taken root in the city's parks, becoming an unusual landmark.





What do you expect to see upon arrival in London? Big Ben? Famous English pubs everywhere, or perhaps throngs of migrants? Yes, yes, yes, there's plenty of that. But most likely, the first thing you see upon exiting the airport is... parrots!



London – the capital of parrots, Britain!

As strange as it may sound, bright green parrots are a completely normal part of the London landscape. After all, these aren't some escaped birds that will freeze to death next winter, but a truly sustainable population of local residents who have lived in the city for many generations.





It's so warm in Britain that the trees remain green even in November!

The ancestors of London ring-necked parakeets once lived in India, but starting in the middle of the last century, they became popular exotic pets among Londoners. Then one escape, then another, a couple of aviaries damaged by hurricanes, and now there are several dozen green birds in the wild, forced to adapt to conditions on the brink of extinction.



Don't feel sorry for me, I'm living a wonderful life, I just get hungry sometimes...

Over time, the parrots learned to hide from winter snowstorms and freezing rains in attics and feed on flowers and fruits of previously unknown plants. And so, by the 1990s, a small but stable population of bright green birds appeared in London, sightings of which were reported in newspapers and on the first internet forums.



Are you sure this photo isn't from India?

And then things went from bad to worse. By the mid-2000s, ring-necked parakeets had gone from being exotic to annoying locals, their flocks stripping orchards and parks bare, driving locals crazy. In 2009, the government responded by allowing uncontrolled culling of the parakeets for landowners. But that didn't help—three years later, their numbers had reached 12,000!



London's parrots especially love St. James's Park, where they are fed by crowds of tourists.

However, the population has now dropped somewhat and stabilized at around 8,000 birds. The birds have been severely impacted by increasing urbanization, periodic culling, and local predators, who have finally realized that the meat in their green feathers is quite edible. Nevertheless, the parrots are feeling quite comfortable, and Londoners are confident they're here to stay.