You never know what you are going to see during a walk in the park. On an afternoon walk through the Jardines de Real, a favorite city park of Valencia, we followed the chatter of birds to a cluster of trees draped with parrot nests.
Monk parakeets, also known as Quaker parrots, were originally brought from Argentina as pets. They were first detected in the wild in Barcelona in 1975 and have been spreading throughout Spain. I guess they enjoy the Spanish sunshine as much as we do. Many Spanish residents are not happy with the noise, but we found it to be a nice surprise. Definitely not what we were expecting to see on a walk through the park.
Julia Eats 
One response to “Parrots in the Park”
The noise is the least of the problems of these invasive exotic species. The main problem is that they can have a negative impact on native species and cause damage to local agriculture and vegetation. Before the restoration of the Torres de Quart they built their nests in the holes of the towers but after the restoration these holes were covered with wire nets to prevent them from nesting there. Personally, I love these pests as they are cute but they do need to be controlled.
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