Photo from open sources
Monk Parrot, also known as Kalita, dwells in the wild in mainly in Brazil, Uruguay, Argentina, Paraguay and the USA. In many countries he is considered a cute pet bird, but not in Spain, where these green creatures have flooded the streets of many cities, making life difficult for people. So, the Spanish capital is no longer in able to cope with the hordes of pots that have become here a lot annoying city pigeons, and the Madrid authorities are developing in present emergency measures to control parrots.
Feathered Pests in Spain
These cute, small and seemingly harmless birds, imported to Spain a few decades ago from latin America, successfully fighting for food with sparrows and pigeons, threatening completely supplant their “competitors”. Many tourists and compassionate natives feed monk parrots with pastries, seeds and fruits, because of which the pots behave completely fearlessly. Birds cut off tree branches to build their heavy nests, the weight of which can reach 50 kilograms. Pests populate power lines, crap everywhere and screaming incessantly (screaming, as the Spaniards themselves think), which sleep at night for residents of many areas of Madrid.
A photo from open sources
Kalitas first appeared in Barcelona in the late 70s – early 80s years of the last century, and they chose the capital in the mid-80s. Since then, monk parrots have inhabited many Spanish cities, however the most deplorable situation is precisely in Madrid, where the local authorities now have to develop a new plan to reduce abundance of these birds. The previous one was the destruction of nests and the destruction of feathered eggs, however, failed completely because did not stop prolific birds from actively reproducing.
“It has become impossible to live here,” one of the residents resents. Madrid district of La Latina. “These parrots scream like crazy.” We constantly complain to the authorities, and experts constantly come, that destroy nests. But the parrots don’t care, they build new ones nests on neighboring trees and continue to crap and yell. Litter from there are more of them than from pigeons, and they scream so loudly and disgusted that it would be easier to live close to the railway. ”
A photo from open sources
The new plan of the capital’s officials to combat the gates so far not entirely clear. On the one hand, the population of parrots need to be reduced, but on the other hand, in Spain there are very severe laws regarding animal cruelty. Thus, no one can poison or shoot birds massively. Them like reportedly could be captured and released in Brazilian or Argentinean jungle, however this method is too expensive. In addition, urban birds, accustomed to living near people and eat their handouts are unlikely to survive in the wild nature.
Who is to blame for the appearance of parrots?
It is noteworthy that the Spaniards themselves are to blame for the invasion pests. Monk parrots were brought here from Latin America to as pets, however, the gates were too oversized, and their because of this, they often pushed out the door. The first monk parrots were spotted in the Canilejas district of Madrid in 1985. According to ornithologists, today the Kalites live in 450 Spanish municipalities. In first place in terms of the number of parrots is Madrid, in the second – Barcelona, in the third – Malaga.
A photo from open sources
In 1989, only about 12 individuals lived in Madrid, in 1993 about 50 parrots a year, and in 2000, more than 4 thousand. The Spanish Society of Ornithology conducted the latest such “census” population “in 2015 and determined that now on the streets of the capital at least 10 thousand parrots live. This is half of all copies found in the country. Moreover, the gates are settled unevenly – especially you will not envy the inhabitants of Moncloa-Arawak, which under the nose is the Casa de Campo huge park sizes where birds prefer to nest.
Monk parrots live for 20-30 years, and once a year, in the spring, each the female lays 3-4 eggs. These are social birds who prefer live in groups of 300-500 individuals. However, in urban environments potassium groups are few in number.
A photo from open sources
Local experts say that the city authorities once underestimated the threat posed by the little green birds thereby missing the opportunity to solve the problem even during its period origin. According to experts, parrots, like any other an exotic species, it was necessary to catch, but none of this, to unfortunately did not. Destroy such beautiful creatures by law impossible – it’s still not rats that carry dangerous diseases and pose an immediate threat to humans. Therefore, the Madrid authorities have to figure out how confront the breeding of these noisy birds.
Birds
