Monk Parakeet

Myiopsitta monachus

Order: Psittaciformes
Family: Psittacidae
Presence in the Strait: Resident
Abundance: rare
IUCN (global): LC · Least concern
In Spanish: Cotorra argentina

Photograph: Juan Emilio, CC BY-SA, vía iNaturalist

Length: 29 cm
Weight: 135 g

Presence in the Strait

Rare localized resident found at Sotogrande and Marina de Casares. Also seen at La Línea.

Identification

A bit smaller than a Ring-necked Parakeet, but more robust and noisier. Green with grey forehead, face and breast; brownish bill. In flight, blue primaries. Juveniles have a greenish forehead. They originate from Argentina, Paraguay y Uruguay.

Bioestrecho editorial text. Last revised: 8 September 2026.

Photographs from iNaturalist observations with the licence checked file by file. Those marked “Strait” were taken within the area; place and date are those of each observation.

Calendar in the Strait

12 %

Peak in January. Observations under CC0 or CC BY licences. The distribution also reflects observation effort.

Where it is seen

Open records from the atlas database, in cells of about 3.6 km. Opacity follows the square root of the count, and also reflects where people observe most.

See on the map

First open record: 29 August 1986
Latest record: 26 April 2025

The oldest and the most recent open observation in the extended area. A recent first observation does not mean the species is new: it means nobody had published it openly before.

Conservation

The catalogues, Andalusian and Spanish, are what binds; the Red Book assesses the Spanish population with IUCN criteria, and the global Red List is the context.

LCNTVUENCR

Andalusian Catalogue: Not included
Spanish Catalogue: Not included
Red Book of the Birds of Spain 2021: Outside the Red List (not assessed)
Global Red List (IUCN): LC · Least concern

Andalusian Catalogue: Junta de Andalucía, list of 24 April 2025. Spanish Catalogue: MITECO, table of 30 June 2025. Red Book: SEO/BirdLife, 2021 (Annex I). IUCN: via GBIF, 6 September 2026. Red Book and IUCN categories are assessments; catalogue categories are legal obligations.

Classification

Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Psittaciformes
Family: Psittacidae
GBIF taxon key: 2479407

Sources

Distribution and calendar: Bioestrecho's own database, ingested from GBIF and OBIS
Photograph: Juan Emilio, CC BY-SA, vía iNaturalist
Taxonomy: GBIF backbone, pending WoRMS for marine taxa
Editorial text: written by Bioestrecho
Last revised: 8 September 2026

Monk Parakeet

Presence in the Strait

Identification

Gallery