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Monk Parakeets. They are making their presence known in more and more areas, screaming loudly. The Mediterranean coast has been a popular habitat for these 'noise parrots' for some time now. But their advance is also difficult to stop in large cities.
Opinions about the pros and cons of these utterly void birds are quite divided. With their green plumage and white breast they give an exotic touch to our costas. They look different from what we were used to here and that makes the birds, which originally live in Uruguay and Argentina, popular. Many take for granted that they produce so many decibels. However, many farmers and city administrators see this differently. They emphasise a series of downsides. As exotic birds, the monk parakeets by definition have few natural enemies. Add to this their reproduction habit (litters of 5 to 12 youngsters is common) and the explosive population growth has been largely explained. In addition, they cause serious damage to grain crops and in almond orchards. In cities, noise pollution and the danger of very large nests, which threaten to fall from trees due to their weight, are emphasised. The parakeets have a strong colony mentality and prefer to build their nests as a large structure with separate nursery areas for each couple. Colossal 'parakeet flats' have been observed, which can weigh up to 150 kilos. The fear of damage from falling nests is therefore not unfounded.
Several cities want to kill the monk parakeets on a large scale to keep the 'plague' under control. Madrid earlier in 2020 approved a program to reduce the approximately 13,000 parakeets in the city to 1,300.
The fact that numbers have got so out of hand over the years probably has a lot to do with the noise the birds make. Since the 1980s, an estimated one million animals have entered the country illegally and sold as pets. The buyers probably hadn't expected such a boisterous roommate. Many of them will therefore have released the animals.
