Myiopsitta monachus, (Boddaert, 1783) (Boddaert, 1783)

Boev, Zlatozar, 2024, New locality of the invasive Monk parakeet Myiopsitta monachus (Boddaert, 1783) in Greece, ZooNotes 2024 (240), pp. 1-4 : 1-3

The Monk parakeet in Greece

In the last decades M. monachus have established a breeding colony in the National Garden in Athens in the central region of the city. Data of the Hellenic Ornithological Society show that the Athens population of both species ( P. krameri and M. monachus ) exceeds 1500 birds.

The Monk parakeet has been recorded for the first time in Greece in 2010 in the Parko Scholis Chorofylakis Dimotiko, Katehaki, Athens near the existing zoological garden ( Kalodimos, 2013).

City of Piraeus is located 8 km SW of Athens ( Fig. 1 ). Although the city is not administratively united with Athens, today it is practically merged with it, and the two cities form one of the largest urban areas in Europe.

It is important to note that there are no large gardens and parks in the entire urbanized agglomeration of Athens, except for the National Garden in Athens, Areopagus Hill, Lycabettus Hill, Strefi Hill and a few others. All of them have a very limited surface and are tightly surrounded by densely built-up (usually 5-7 storey buildings) areas.

The green parks and gardens are located in the central and the eastern parts of the agglomeration. To the south-west in the direction of Piraeus there is no green space of any kind except for the trees along the major city thoroughfares. This is of particular importance for parrots as highly specialized arboreal (dendrophilous) and frugivorous birds (including the species under consideration). It is worthy to mention, that “Monk Parakeets, compared to other parrot species, do not normally disperse far from their natal locations.” ( Kalodimos, 2013).

Observation in Piraeus

So far, there is no evidence of the distribution of M. monachus outside the borders of Athens. The Monk parakeets have not been established in thе city of Piraeus too. On 21 April 2024 in a group of cypress ( Cupressus sp. ) trees in the region of the Port of Piraeus ( 37.937536 N, 23.634966 E) an adult bird, producing noisy screams in the air perched on a branch ( Fig. 2 ). The bird held a typical spherical cypress cone in its feet and remained there for about a minute. The weather was clear, calm and sunny with a temperature of around 200 С. The next day individuals of the species were also observed in Athens in the National Garden ( Fig. 3 ).

Figures

Fig. 1. Map of Athens (After: https://www.posters.bg/marketplace/athens-greece-city-mapwhite-v105257) with the locations of the sites of records of M. monachus: Zoological garden, Athens (1); National Garden, Athens (2); Port of Piraeus (3, present study).

Fig. 2. Adult Monk parakeet Myiopsitta monachus (Boddaert, 1783), Piraeus, 21.04.2024. Photograph: Zlatozar Z. Boev.

Fig. 3. Adult Monk parakeet Myiopsitta monachus (Boddaert, 1783), National Garden, Athens, 22.04.2024. Photograph: Zlatozar Z. Boev.