Monk Parakeet nidification in urban tree areas: a case in La Plata City (2008-2016)

Monk parakeets are very successful invaders in different cities of the world, where they formed wild populations thanks to biological and behavioral characteristics. In Pampean region they also expanded using land use changes and in the city of La Plata began to be registered at the beginning of the 21st century. In previous works we show some primitive foci in the city and since then we have monitored how its population grows and new sites are colonized. We worked in Paseo del Bosque, the squares and parks that are regularly located in the trace of the city, and the bypass green places of La Plata, relieving the trees where the Monk parakeets built their nest. We recorded the number of chambers and calculated the average of nests / tree and chambers / nest. The objective of this communication is to provide results from one of the tree-lined sites of the city: Parque Alberti (3.76 ha). We counted 74 nests and 163 chambers (2.2 chambers / nest). The nests were found in 32 eucalyptus Eucalyptus sp. (2.3 nests / tree with nest). 23% of the park’s eucalyptus trees had nests. Nests were formed by one chamber (41%), two (25%), three (15%), four (14%) and five or more chambers (5%). The data obtained in 2008 indicates a 155% increase in nests, 262% in chambers and 88% in trees with nests. On the other hand, the number of nests with a single chamber decreased, 31%, increasing the rest of the categories.