The colorful and popular birds are a problem not only because they can be noisy nuisances, but because they displace native species. Researchers say the flocks, which may now number 10,000 in total, nest in hollow trees and compete for the space with owls and others. They have also known as crop-plunderers, especially in orchards. They began establishing themselves in the 1970s.
But the parakeets also have friends: City Parrots, an organization that works on urban parrot conservation, told Dutch newspaper Het Parool that the parakeets actually cause very little damage. And, the group said, they’re not the only originally non-native species around. The spokesman said ‘If you really want our nature to be as it used to be, then we have to get rid of rabbits and pheasants as well as the European beech tree, which was introduced by the Romans.”
