They can come, Meudon is waiting for them.
The town is prepared for a new invasion of ring-necked parakeets.
For three years, these birds have been settling in the trees of Meudon, mainly in spring but also, as was the case in 2023, at the end of the year.
“They proliferate in particular in the forest and around the Milandy gymnasium, in the Meudon-la-Forêt district,” describes Patrick de la Marque, deputy mayor (SE) responsible, among other things, for public buildings, hygiene, and public space,
At first glance, the ring-necked parakeet has everything to seduce with its bright green plumage and red beak.
However, this bird represents a real threat.
“There were thousands of them in the forest,” continues the elected official from Meudon.
The cars parked in the area were covered in droppings and they made a terrible noise.
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Drawing.
Introduced to France by man, the ring-necked parakeet invades the woods of Meudon by the thousands.
These birds are said to have arrived from India in the 1970s, in full swing of caged parakeets.
Some were released, others escaped from their containers at Orly and Roissy airports.
“We looked for a clean, humane way that has already proven itself”
“They nest before other species and they enlarge the crevices in the trees,” declared Philippe Clergeau, professor emeritus at the National Museum of Natural History (MNHN) and specialist in parakeets, to Le Parisien in 2022. They can thus take the place, for example, nuthatches or starlings, even bats.
There is debate but I am convinced that there is competition and a risk of causing an imbalance.
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To regulate the winged threat, Meudon opted for a natural technique.
“There are other methods like nets but they are not necessarily more effective and the goal is not to kill them,” explains Patrick de la Marque.
Harris's hawks are not a predator of parakeets but their presence, their piercing cry and their behavior frighten them.
We looked for a clean, humane way that has already proven itself.
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The population involved
Raptors are increasingly used to fight against another scourge of cities, pigeons!
From Boulogne to Suresnes via Neuilly, several towns in Hauts-de-Seine and beyond have decided to take out their greenhouses against the rock kisses that are too present in town.
Meudon also put its population to work during the latest scare campaigns.
“We double the action of the nozzles with flashes: we ask residents of the neighborhood to bring an electric torch and turn them on and off quickly to scare the parakeets,” adds Patrick de la Marque.
Is it the buzzard effect, that of parakeets or competition between species, but the municipality of Meudon has noticed an ultimately positive development: “we have fewer and fewer pigeons!
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