[2] Parakeets comprise about 115 species of birds that are seed-eating parrots of small size, slender build, and long, tapering tails.

The vernacular name ring-necked parakeet (not to be confused with the Australian ringneck) refers to a species of the genus Psittacula native to Africa and Asia that is popular as a pet and has become feral in many cities outside its natural range.

[citation needed] There is a growing population of monk parakeets in Brooklyn and Queens, although the species have been reported in all five boroughs of New York City.

[6] In December 2019, Steven Le Comber, of Queen Mary University in London, UK, published an analysis in the Journal of Zoology based on geographic profiling methods.

It concluded that the thriving rose-ringed parakeet population in the United Kingdom had grown from numerous small-scale accidental and intentional pet releases.

Previous theories had included a pair released by Jimi Hendrix on Carnaby Street and an arrival in 1951 when Humphrey Bogart and Katharine Hepburn visited London with various animals to film The African Queen, set in the equatorial swamps of east Africa.