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As a walker passes through any number of Wiesbaden’s pleasant neighborhoods, he or she might well hear a raucous chatter emanating from above and spot vivid flashes of green amongst the branches. Closer inspection reveals, as expected, birds, but far from the likes of those one would expect to encounter in such northern latitudes. One’s first thoughts would likely run along the lines of, “Did someone’s pets escape from their cages?”
The answer to that is both yes and no. The birds in question are indeed a type of parakeet, and they did escape, or perhaps were set loose. Not recently, however, but decades ago.
The flashy birds, native to Africa and the Indian subcontinent, were brought into Europe when a ban on the import of tropical birds was lifted back in the 1960s. Not long after, colonies of these escaped or released birds began to appear in and around Cologne. Since then, they’ve been branching out along the Rhine, a bit north, but more often south. They’ve inhabited certain districts of Wiesbaden since the mid-1970s. Other cities along the Rhine with parakeet populations include Düsseldorf, Mainz, Worms and Mannheim. Parakeet colonies can also be found in other German cities next to rivers: Frankfurt am Main, Heidelberg and Stuttgart have their own populations.
Not one, but two types of parakeets roost in Hesse’s capital. The more common Asian Ring-necked parakeet, Alexandrinus manillensis, is joined by the Alexandrine parakeet, Psittacula eupatria. According to the website of the Hessian Society for Ornithology and Nature Conservation, a January 2021 count conducted at two of Wiesbaden’s most populated roosting sites recorded 2,384 Ring-necked parakeets and 540 Alexandrine parakeets.
Winter’s cold temperatures seem to do the birds no harm, as they choose to remain in place year-round. Their main challenge is to find enough buds, shoots, fruits and berries to eat at a time of year when most trees are bare. Their workaround is to set up home in places where exotic trees and shrubs remain green throughout the year. They show a preference for the plane trees commonly planted in gardens, parks and cemeteries.
Parakeets breed in the deep cavities of these trees, often the abandoned burrows of woodpeckers. When gardeners or forest management crews remove old trees, it’s natural for these birds to spread their wings in search of new places to set up camp.
The long-term ecological consequences for native bird life have been studied, but are still not fully understood. Parakeets compete with native bird species for nesting space and encroach upon their food sources, but for now, there is no evidence they have pushed out any one native species in particular.
The places in Wiesbaden where one is apt to spot these colorful chatterboxes include the Äppelallee shopping center, the Friedrich-Ebert-Allee across from the main train station, the Kurpark and the centrally located Kaiser-Friedrich-Platz. The Castle Garden Park in Biebrich is a place where sightings are all but guaranteed.
