Some 5,500 parrots of two species, Argentina and Krámer, inhabit trees and buildings in Seville according to the census conducted in mid-July. A historic top that leads to the least-worrying minimums to the urban hawk - the kestrel primilla - and the giant bat, both protected. In September the City Council begins the placement of trap cages, after discarding them with a carbine, as a good result in Zaragoza, where 1,600 animals were eliminated.
On the night of Thursday, July 18, biologists from the Doñana Biological Station toured the city of Seville to conduct the 2019 census of two exotic and invasive species that are already worrying. The parrots of Krámer now total 4,400 copies, and Argentina, 1,100. Seville is the most affected Andalusian city, followed by Malaga with 3,000.
Its growth skyrocketed exponentially a few years ago. Without predators , with abundant food, and with areas still to colonize, these birds multiply. And they generate two increasing problems.
They are invasive for competing successfully with other species. There are two, both protected, that fall without pause. "In the most important breeding colony of the kestrel primilla in the city, the church of El Salvador, of 40 couples in 2013 has passed this year to only 23," explains Dailos Hernández Brito, of the Biological Station of Doñana. Meanwhile, the parrot has quintupled in that building, with 22 nests.
Kramer's occupies holes , either building or trees. In Seville, the shadow banana rots quickly, creating holes in trunks and branches. From them he pecks the parrot at another victim, the giant bats, the nodule, an effective insectivore that has its largest known population in the park of María Luisa Sevillian. This mammal has been removed from almost 70 trees, and only resists in 7.
The other front is the agricultural one . The increase of the parrots, according to Asaja, "reduced in 2017 by 10% the production of sunflower, and will do it in other crops, we just have to look at what happened in other countries." This year they admit that there has been no complaint from the farmers. These animals eat both fruits (in the city dates or oranges), as grains (sunflower, wheat, etc.). Flocks of some 400 parrots have been seen ending with a field of sunflowers.
Trap cages
The City Council of Seville will apply in September the first measures: placement of trap cages, and at the same time the installation of nest boxes for kestrels, nodules and insectivores in general with an 'anti- eviction ' system. In spring the eggs will be punctured, and citizens will be informed of the danger of the invaders. The cost is 137,000 euros.
José Tella, from the Doñana Biological Station, believes that the City Council has given in to pressure to avoid the only measure that works: shoot with the carbine at the parrots, as was done successfully in Zaragoza. "The municipal project will not work in Seville, because they are animals that will not fall into the traps," and the nests that Argentina builds, especially in palm trees, "are high to go to prick eggs," says Tella.
Antonio Sánchez, general director of Public Health and Animal Protection of the City Council, places the "ideal horizon" of the plan not in extermination , "but in a population that lives in harmony with others." He defends that invading birds are not shot, in tune with animalist groups, with the example of what happened in Madrid. "In the Parque del Oeste the population was reduced by 40% with similar measures, and in those of Aluche and Tres Cruces by 80%," he reports.
The controversy for this type of parrots - who live 30 years - has spread throughout Europe, like the croaking nothing melodious in the skies of Malaga and Seville.
Alfalfa Market
A confiscation of parrots in the disappeared and controversial animal market in the Plaza de la Alfalfa seems to be the origin of the problem. The municipal employees ended up releasing, in the early 90's, these first parrots in the Maria Luisa park.
Today the problem is global. In India or Israel the damages are millions of euros in the crops. A pan-European team of researchers, conservationists, wildlife managers and public officials worked together on an EU action: ParrotNet . A few days ago they considered that measures to prevent parrots from invading new areas are essential to limit future damage.
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