Monk Parakeets Moving Inland––

Nesting In Newtown? It’s Only A Matter Of Time

By Dottie Evans

According to most people currently embroiled in what has become the monk parakeet vs public utility community relations crisis, there are two things that all feuding parties can agree upon: there are no easy solutions, and the problem of monk parakeets building large nests around utility pole transformers is not going to go away any time soon.

No one wants to kill the exotic and resourceful birds, yet already more than 140 have been captured by United Illuminating (UI), a southwestern Connecticut utility company based in New Haven. Following capture and destruction of their nests, the birds are then handed over to the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) for humane euthanasia by carbon dioxide.

Monk parakeets are not native to this country so they are not protected by law. They originated in South America, and were brought to the United States in the 1960s as pets or for zoos, and several escaped or were released from captivity into the wild.

Over the following decades they have become accustomed to living near urban centers, including the towns of West Haven, Milford, Stratford, and Bridgeport on Connecticut’s southeast coast. The latest reports put them as far north as New Britain.

Their numbers have gradually but steadily increased. The parakeets seem to have discovered that utility pole transformers emit a measure of warmth in the coldest winters. Add the fact that they are prolific breeders and you’ve got an invasive species that is fast approaching pest status — at least, in the utility company’s view.

 

Audubon Opts For       Noninvolvement

Patrick Comins, director of bird conservation at Bent of the River Audubon Center in Southbury, predicts it will not be long before the monk parakeet problem comes closer to home.

“They’ve started to move inland up the Connecticut River. It’s only a matter of time before they get as far as Southbury and Newtown. They have become established in the Chicago area, as well, so we know hard winters are not going to stop them,” Mr Comins said.

Mr Comins believes that United Illuminating “has a good reason for what they are doing.”

“They’ve tried alternatives, but the birds keep coming back and rebuilding,” he said.

He added that the Audubon Society does not officially oppose the destruction of an invasive species. At the same time, it does not actively assist in the eradication program.

“Our only involvement would be if the [monk parakeets] were doing ecological harm to [native] species. Then we would get involved in supporting efforts to control them. We would support any effort to manage wildlife that is for a good reason,” he added.

The parakeets’ large, intricate nests made of twigs and sticks range from about ten pounds to up to 200 pounds, and they can contain as many as 40 to 50 birds. United Illuminating claims that over the past two years, there have been two fires and from eight to 12 power outages resulting from the nests.

“Our chief concern is public health and safety,” Mr Al Carbone, spokesman for the company has said.

Public Funds To Kill   Parakeets

In keeping with its mission to deliver safe and effective electric power to its customers, utility company officials have undertaken the eradication policy in partnership with the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). Utility workers poke holes in the nests and remove the birds at night. The workers put the birds into bags that are then delivered to the USDA, which gasses them with carbon dioxide.

Officials say that simply releasing the birds back into the wild is not a solution since they remember where the nest site was and soon rebuild.

But animal rights activists believe that any solution would be better than outright killing, and they maintain that the utility company should simply remove the nests without harming the birds, and then pursue regular removal as new nests are built as part of their routine maintenance procedures.

“I find this monk parakeet situation most troubling,” said Dara Reid, director of Wildlife-In-Crisis, an animal rescue and rehabilitation group based in Weston.

“These birds are sentient beings and they deserve to be treated humanely. Removing invasive bird species by draconian means should never be an option.

“USDA agents are killing the birds at taxpayer’s expense for the benefit of private industry…The $125,000 program supported by both Connecticut’s Department of Environmental Protection (DEP)…targets 103 nests throughout the state,” stated Ms Reid in a press release published November 20.

“I am hopeful that UI will eventually succumb to public pressure as did New Jersey’s and New York’s [utility companies] and simply dismantle the nests each year instead of killing the birds…This would be a more rational solution,” Ms Reid added.

Patrick Comins at the Southbury Audubon Center agreed this might be a better course, while restating that the Audubon Society was not officially involved in the monk parakeet eradication program.

“They could wait until spring and remove nests from utility poles before breeding season,” he said during an interview December 5.

“This would be the most humane approach toward solving the public safety issue. We should also note that only 10 to 20 percent of all the monk parakeet nests are built on utility poles. A large portion of monk parakeets build their nests in big fir trees and oaks,” he added.

 

Native Carolina Parakeets Now Extinct

While the nonnative monk parakeets, Myiopsitta monachus, are relatively new to the avian scene in America, the country’s best-known native parrot species considered common when John James Audubon explored the continent was the Carolina parakeet, Conuropsis carolinensis, now extinct.

Like their South American monk parakeet cousins, the Carolina parakeets represented a similar example of a prolific avian species taking advantage of favorable environmental circumstances.

With the spread of agriculture during early settlement, this brilliantly colored bird developed a liking for the seeds of many kinds from fruit and grain crops. Because of this, and because of its fatal habit of gathering in great flocks and descending upon the farmers’ fields to eat the grain, the species was subjected to wholesale shooting and slaughter.

Once common in the southeastern United States, the Carolina parakeet became increasingly scarce as deforestation reduced its habitat. It was already rare by the mid 1880s, and its last stand took place in Florida where, in 1920, a flock of 30 birds was the last ever seen.

Lesser known native parrots that still exist in this country include thick-billed parrots that feed on certain types of pine seeds and live in areas of Arizona and northwestern Mexico. Since their range has grown smaller, thick-billed parrots are now only very rarely found in the United States.

In southern Texas, green parakeets that are seed and fruit eaters have expanded their range into Mexico where some wild populations have mixed with escaped birds.