Monk parakeets with medallions in Barcelona (1 Viewer)

I have just returned from 4 days in Barcelona, where there is a sizeable feral population of monk parakeets. I saw several that had medallions around their necks. The medallions consist of round metal discs painted on one side with dark blue or green with 3 white digits on them. On 14th October one bird by Palau de Mar had a blue medallion with the number 952 on it. The next day I saw 5 with medallions at Passeig de Lluís Companys nearby. Four had blue, including one on which I read the number 732. The fifth had a dark green medallion marked with AO5.

Seeing one bird on the first occasion I wondered if it was someone's escaped pet, but seeing more the next day makes me wonder if there is a research project into the dispersal of the species that uses medallions instead of, say, colour-rings. I have read that monk parakeets dispersing into cultivated areas outside the city have been causing problems.

Any ideas about the medallions?

P.S. I've also found a rather blurred photograph that I took by Palau de Mar on the 14th with another monk parakeet with a blue medallion number 621.

The medallions are part of a colour-'ringing' project by the Catalan ringing authorities, looking in particular at dispersal of the species. There's a picture of one of the birds -here- (top left).
There's some brief information -here- on the ICO's 'special rings' webpages, thought it's in Catalan. From what I can gather, it tells you to check CR-Birding for details of who to send sightings to, for the time being at least. However, the CR-Birding site doesn't list any projects for Monk Parakeets so probably the best thing to do would be to e-mail the Catalan Ornithological Institute directly and pass on your sightings directly - I'm sure they would be very pleased to hear from you and will pass on your sightings to whoever can deal with them. E-mail: ico<at>ornitologia.org

Cheers,

Stephen

Stephen Menzie said:

The medallions are part of a colour-'ringing' project by the Catalan ringing authorities, looking in particular at dispersal of the species. There's a picture of one of the birds -here- (top left).
There's some brief information -here- on the ICO's 'special rings' webpages, thought it's in Catalan. From what I can gather, it tells you to check CR-Birding for details of who to send sightings to, for the time being at least. However, the CR-Birding site doesn't list any projects for Monk Parakeets so probably the best thing to do would be to e-mail the Catalan Ornithological Institute directly and pass on your sightings directly - I'm sure they would be very pleased to hear from you and will pass on your sightings to whoever can deal with them. E-mail: ico<at>ornitologia.org

Cheers,

Stephen

Click to expand...

Thanks, Stephen,

I have received a reply from Dr. Juan Carlos Senar at the Natural History Museum, which is close to Passeig de Lluis Companys in Barcelona. The museum has been studying the dispersal of the monk parakeets because of the economic problems that the non-native species causes.

Allen