Introduced birds in Europe (1 Viewer)

wintibird said:

Ruddy Shelduck (...) they get now reduced as they started to threat Barn Owls and Kestrels (throwing them out of their breeding places).

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Dimitris said:

Our breeding birds are definately wild.

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Dear Dimitris, your wild birds may migrate through Italy heading to a possible moult site in Switzerland, where they are told as feral birds and then killed.
More info with photos in my blog:
http://www.surfbirds.com/blog/birdingitalynet/
Cheers

Hi,

Why Ruddy Shelduck in Italy are not feral birds from Switzerland? Feral population is closer than a wild one. And, as far as I recall, Balkan population is rather small.

jurek said:

Hi,

Why Ruddy Shelduck in Italy are not feral birds from Switzerland? Feral population is closer than a wild one. And, as far as I recall, Balkan population is rather small.

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I happen to both agree and disagree with foxsparrow on this one. Prior to the establishment of feral RSD in Switzerland wild RSDs did occur regularly in small nos. in Adriatic Italy. Since the birds became established in Switzerland (with no real increase in true wild stocks) then numbers recorded in Italy have increased so I think it reasonable to assume that many of the birds involved are of Swiss origin, with a small number of wild birds from the east.

Quite why the Swiss should want to get rid of them I'm not sure. I don't think they are displacing another species and the wild stocks are endangered. UK holds internationally important numbers of Mandarin Duck and Red-legged Partridge, neither of which are native but are now internationally important. The Swiss RSD may, in the future, come to represent an important stock of the species, especially as wetlands further east dry out due to global warming.

The case illustrates again how going through a captive 'filter' often changes a species, sometimes making it more 'plastic' (adaptable) than the wild relatives whose wariness and traditions (probably caused by persecution) make them difficult species to save.

Hi,

Neither I know why Swiss want to get rid of Ruddy Shelduck (and if this shooting plan really is realised).

But Ruddy Shelduck is common as muck in Central Asia and India, so I don't think it has any conservation significance.

In Turkey there are three introduced species(cage espace-breeding confirmed in the wild)

Psittacula krameri-Ring necked Parakeet
Psittacula eupatria-Alexandrine Parakeet
Acridotheres tristis-Common Myna

i have seen ring-necked parakeet at the topkapi palace in Istanbul!!

Also red-breasted flycatcher in the grounds and syrian woodpecker just outside..

regarding mandarin duck in the UK, i think the UK population represents about 10-30% of the world's total!!

Back to Ruddy Shelduck (as I introduced the species wrongly in this thread): The shooting plan is slowly going on. There are still quite a lot of them at Klingnauer Stausee, but less then before.
Why the shooting? The breeding population is quite aggressive. They fight with Kestrels and Barn Owls about the breeding place... and they win. Especially Barn Owls are not really well doing here. They also keep all other birds out of their area when they have ducklings. So other ducks or grebes can't breed.
It's surely possible that one or two of the birds really come from the Balkan population, but I guess the rest is really feral. The Swiss Vogelwarte is a good and thrustworthy institution and I believe them.
I'm also not aware of any sightings over the alps (exept a feral population in Arosa, all ringed) and they are quite obvious in flight.

Greetings from Switzerland
André

david kelly said:

I am referring to non European natives so Little Owls or Eagle Owls in the UK don't fall within the bounds of this thread. Does anyone out there know of any other populations of non European native birds breeding in Europe?

David

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What about the lovebirds in Dunbar ?

Mike.

Touty said:

I happen to both agree and disagree with foxsparrow on this one. Prior to the establishment of feral RSD in Switzerland wild RSDs did occur regularly in small nos. in Adriatic Italy. Since the birds became established in Switzerland (with no real increase in true wild stocks) then numbers recorded in Italy have increased so I think it reasonable to assume that many of the birds involved are of Swiss origin, with a small number of wild birds from the east.
.

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May I disagree with Touty on this one ? The fenology of the species in NE Italy (where the species in increasing due -also- to the range expansion and increasing in number of the wild populations of E Europe) point absolutely to an origin from E. Do you think is possible that feral birds from Switzerland (where local ornithologist state that the species is sedentary) have established a regular flyway to a moulting site East of Italy (they do not moult in Italy !!) and then they return to Switzerland to winter ? However evidences are pointing to movements from SE to the Po Delta, then to the Garda lake, then to a moulting site abroad (to NW of the Garda lake !?) an finally again to the Po Delta and then to SE (they do not winter in Italy to a regular basis ! Finally: Ruddy Shelduck is a regular migrant in the Po Delta (not a vagrant in random dates) and there were more birds in Switzerland during moulting at the Klingnauer Stausee (Klingnau artificial lake) than in winter in the whole Switzerland...

wintibird said:

It's surely possible that one or two of the birds really come from the Balkan population, but I guess the rest is really feral. The Swiss Vogelwarte is a good and thrustworthy institution and I believe them.

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Oh this really bother me. If the Swiss Vogelwarte is a good and thrustworthy institution, why they do not catch the flightless birds at the Klingnauer Stausee when moulting to neckband them to be sure there are not wild bird (coming from other countries !!) so to evoid the risk to kill birds of a rare European species !?

wintibird said:

I'm also not aware of any sightings over the alps (exept a feral population in Arosa, all ringed) and they are quite obvious in flight.

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Birdwatchers in W Europe do not report Ruddy Shelducks at a regular basis since they think that birds around are 'escaped' so we have lost a lot of migration data, it's obvious...

jurek said:

Hi,

Why Ruddy Shelduck in Italy are not feral birds from Switzerland? Feral population is closer than a wild one. And, as far as I recall, Balkan population is rather small.

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Oh my God: are you stating that the Balkan population is smaller than the Switzerland one (some hundreds birds) ?! And your ornithologists state the RSD of Switzerland are absolutely sedentary... 'Feral population is closer than a wild one' is a nonsense since migratory birds move along thousands of Km when sedentary birds stay 'close to home'...

foxsparrow said:

Birdwatchers in W Europe do not report Ruddy Shelducks at a regular basis since they think that birds around are 'escaped' so we have lost a lot of migration data, it's obvious...

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Hi Foxsparrow

Birdwatchers in Switzerland do report them (and a lot of other, commoner species). For the rest I guess you have to contact the Vogelwarte Sempach and ask them:
Vogelwarte Sempach

André

david kelly said:

The thread on Spanish Waxbills got me to thinking about what non-native species have established populations in Europe. When I first got on to the internet there was a site which collated information on "Category C" populations in Europe.
I am referring to non European natives so Little Owls or Eagle Owls in the UK don't fall within the bounds of this thread. Does anyone out there know of any other populations of non European native birds breeding in Europe?

David

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This thread is so old it has whiskers! But it's still relevant and due an update so I decided to bump it and expand David's original list using data from eBird's species mapping.
Not to everyone's taste I know but I'm sure there will be some birders interested and this is for them rather than those of a more 'purist' nature.

For the list Europe is defined as 'west of the Urals', 'north of the Caucasus mountain divide', and down the middle of the Bosporus. Feel free to discuss other parts of the Western Palearctic if you wish.

My main interest is in passerine (mostly) species from outside the Western Palearctic that are apparently thriving in for them at least, novel habitats.
So I haven't delved too deeply into other groups such as wildfowl, gamebirds, parrots etc. and many species listed below may not be self-sustaining. Indeed some may be little more than park ducks or free-flying cagebirds!
Also which species were "category c" or not locally and therefore countable on some lists didn't concern me. I'll leave that up to yourselves to find out if you so wish.

Passerines:
One or two surprises. I had no idea Europe had feral Pin-tailed Whydahs and House Finches!!!

Red-vented Bulbul (Valencia, Spain)
Red-whiskered Bulbul (Valencia, Spain)
Vinous-throated Parrotbill (Lombardy, Italy; Ticino, Switzerland; Limburg, Netherlands)
Red-billed Leiothrix (France; Spain; Portugal; Italy - several places in each country)
Common Myna (Lisbon, Portugal; European Turkey)
Crested Myna (Lisbon, Portugal)
House Finch (Athens, Greece; Murcia, Spain)
Black-headed Weaver (Portugal; Spain)
Red-billed Quelea (Spain) - terrible idea freeing this species!
Yellow-crowned Bishop (Portugal; Spain)
Common Waxbill (Portugal; Spain - has reached as far north as A Coruña, Galicia)
Black-rumped Waxbill (Spain - various places)
Orange-cheeked Waxbill (Valencia, Spain)
Red Avadavat (Portugal; Spain; Italy)
Indian Silverbill (Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur, France)
Nutmeg Mannikin/Scaly-breasted Munia (Portugal)
Pin-tailed Whydah (Portugal) - apparently spreading in the wake of its waxbill hosts.

Parrots:
Alexandrine Parakeet (Netherlands; Brussels, Belgium; Germany; Paris, France)
Ring-necked Parakeet (many places)
Fischer's Lovebird (Spain; France)
Rosy-faced Lovebird (Spain; Serbia)
Senegal Parrot (Spain)
Monk Parakeet (many places)
Scaly-headed Parrot (Malaga, Spain)
Yellow-headed Parrot (Stuttgart, Germany)
Burrowing Parakeet (Spain)
Nanday Parakeet (Malaga, Spain)
Blue-crowned Parakeet (Portugal; Spain)
Mitred Parakeet (Spain)
Red-masked Parakeet (Spain)

Wildfowl:
Bar-headed Goose (Germany)
?Emperor Goose
?Snow Goose
?Ross's Goose
Swan Goose (Germany)
Canada Goose (UK; Scandinavia; Ireland)
Cackling Goose (Netherlands)
Black Swan (Germany)
Mandarin Duck (Several countries)
Wood Duck (Germany)
Egyptian Goose (Netherlands; UK and other countries)
Domestic Muscovy Duck (Italy; Germany)
?Yellow-billed Teal (Germany)
?Bufflehead
?Hooded Merganser
Ruddy Duck

Gamebirds:
Northern Bobwhite (Italy; Istria, Croatia)
California Quail (Corsica)
Helmeted Guineafowl (SW Bulgaria?)
Indian Peafowl (Brijuni island & Lokrum, Croatia)
Reeves's Pheasant (France; Czechia)
Common Pheasant (Widespread)
Golden Pheasant (UK)
Lady Amherst's Pheasant (UK - on its way out)

Others:
Greater Rhea/Nandu (Germany)
Chilean Flamingo (Netherlands; Germany)
Sacred Ibis (France; Italy)

Pin-tailed Whydah - certainly worth twitching and although I see they are near Aveiro in Portugal, there is little info on the web.

Seem to remember there's Helmeted Guineafowl breeding ferally somewhere in SW Bulgaria, don't remember the exact details though.

Ring-necked Parakeets also breed in Germany in several places in the Rhine Valley; in fact, they're more widespread than the above mentioned Alexandrine Parakeet.

Hi Sangyhyando,

Sangahyando said:

Ring-necked Parakeets also breed in Germany in several places in the Rhine Valley; in fact, they're more widespread than the above mentioned Alexandrine Parakeet.

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I just checked ornitho.de, and finding the follwoing reports as breeding in Germany in 2018:

Psittacula krameri - in many places in the Rhine valley, also one report from Torgau, upon the Elbe river
Psittacula eupatria - 3 pairs in Cologne
Amazona oratrix - 1 pair in Stuttgart

Also on ornitho.de for 2018, not mentioned earlier in this thread as breeding in Germany, or mentioned and marked with a question mark:

Swan Goose (also the domestic form)
Black Swan
Bar-headed Goose
Domestic Muscovy Duck
Wood Duck

Regards,

Henning

A few sources of info on Non-native birds in Portugal:
# Field guide (in Portuguese): Aves Exóticas que Nidificam em Portugal Continental (not available commercially, info a bit outdated, from 2002)
# Non-native birds in Portugal 2005-08: PDF (in Portuguese, but info pretty straightforward to understand IMO)
# Non-native birds in Portugal 2009-10: PDF (in Portuguese, with English summary)
# Non-native birds in Portugal 2011: PDF (in Portuguese, with English summary)

In addition to the list above on post #34, Red Avadavats and Ring-necked Parakeets have breeding populations in Portugal (abundant in some locations), whilst Common Mynas nest also in smallish numbers; Senegal Parrot, to the best of my knowledge, does not have a real breeding population and Burrowing Parakeet probably shouldn't be included in the list (only occasional observations, as is the case with many other Psittaciformes). Also worth mentioning that Yellow-crowned Bishops can occur in flocks larger that 1000 individuals in the Tagus Estuary, whilst Black-headed Weavers seem to have disappeared from several locations where it previously occurred.

Are the Canaries technically Europe? if so, plenty there ...