Rose-ringed parakeet

It is a gregarious animal, and it lives in flocks formed by hundred of individuals that gather on dormitory trees. It can live for more than 20 years.

• Length: 37- 43 cm (tail included, 18-23 cm).
• Wingspan: 42– 48 cm
• Plumage: bright green, long pointed tail with shades of blue; the male has a sort of black “bib” from bill to neck, which is absent in the female. The upper part of the bill is red.
• Weight: approx. 130 g.

It feeds on seeds, berries, flowers and fruit. Owing to its voracity and since it lives in numerous groups, it can create significant damage to fruit orchards and cultivated fields.

In Italy, it nests from May to August, usually in cavities in trunks without building an actual nest. It lays 2 to 6 eggs that it broods for 24 days; the chicks fly away 6-7 weeks later.

It is a sedentary alloctonous species originated in Asia and Africa that, thanks to a marked ability to adapt, has become very widespread in Italy, probably because of escapes and voluntary liberations of pets. It is above all found in city parks (Milan, Genoa, Pavia, etc.). On the European level, it is considered a highly invasive species (AIS – Alien Invasive Species), and this is why it is constantly monitored (i.e. possible impacts on agriculture, occupation of nests of native species, etc.). It has to be kept under control in Milan as well, where it is spreading quickly, due to its interactions with the city environment.