Monk parrot causing a holy row

THE Guardian newspaper in Britain recently reported on a row that has broken out over the future of a thrush-sized bird introduced from South America.

Monk parakeets, brought in as pets, escaped to the wild during the 1990s and are breeding in the south east of England. There are none in Ireland, but if you visit the Canary Islands keep an eye out for a colourful and noisy bird; monk parakeets have established there.

The parakeets are a loose family of small- to medium-sized parrots with long tails. Seed and fruit eaters, they are not friends of the farmer. However, pilfering is not the worst crime of the monk parakeet. It stands accused, believe it or not, of disrupting electricity supplies. The Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) is taking no chances. It wants all monks to be captured and returned to their cells before numbers increase further and ‘the genie gets out of the bottle’. Even more draconian control measures are envisaged, including shooting and the destruction of nests.

The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds has reluctantly agreed to the cull. “The species aren’t causing major conservation problems in the UK, at the moment, but they might in future,” a spokesman said. But not everyone agrees with the proposed jihad. According to Andrew Tyler, of Animal Aid, the danger from the monks ‘is overstated’, nor should the birds be condemned to ‘endure lives of boredom in cages’.

Is this a case of avian racism? Northern Europe’s native birds, like the weather, tend to be dull and discretely attired. Tropical species, on the other hand, are often very colourful. Monk parakeets have glamorous, bright-green plumage, blue tips to the wings, light grey faces and breasts. The pink bill resembles a human nose.

Escaped cage-birds, especially those of tropical origin, seldom survive in our chilly climate.

Even if they do, cats and sparrow-hawks soon clobber them. The parakeet family, however, seems to be an exception to the rule. At least four species are living rough, and breeding, in Britain.

Monk parakeets seem able to make a go of it, no matter where they are.

The population exploded in their native South America, when the wood-pulp industry planted eucalyptus forests. Escaped pet monks have established feral communities in North America and mainland Europe.

There are thought to be 100 to 150 monks living wild in Britain.

It’s not that many, so why is there such opposition to them? Their detractors claim that these illegal immigrants will become an agricultural pest, although there is no sign of this happening so far. Their breeding arrangements, however, are a greater cause for concern. Monks build huge structures of twigs for nesting, blocks of flats in which each pair has its own apartment.

The tenements are normally located in trees, but, where these are in short supply, the squatters commandeer electricity pylons.

In dry weather, the nests aren’t a problem; twigs and dead vegetation are effective electrical insulators. However, when it rains, the big, bulky structures become wet and soggy.

The resulting short circuits leave areas without power. Copper in the cables may be partially melted by arcing, leaving imperfections which impede the smooth flow of electric currents. Repairing the wires is time-consuming and expensive.

This, at any rate, has been the experience in America where, in some States, the monk has been declared an outlaw.

Fears of a population explosion stem from experience with another member of the parrot family. The ring-necked parakeet is a native of Africa and Asia.

The first English colonies were established when pet birds escaped from their cages in the 1970s. There are now about 4,000 ring-necks in west London and about 500 elsewhere. This is a noisy bird, which roosts communally, and, like boisterous flat-dwellers everywhere, it’s not always welcome in the leafy suburbs. Ring-necks, however, nest in holes in trees. They don’t commandeer pylons.

Nor have they become, so far, an agricultural pest; they prefer to live in parks and large gardens, feeding at bird-tables.

Like those older blow-ins, the pheasant and the brown hare, the ring-neck has become a respectable citizen. However, given its controversial domestic arrangements, it seems unlikely that the monk parakeet will enjoy similar privileges any time soon.