Regarding “Parakeet power play” (MetroChicago, Nov. 2):
According to the story, Commonwealth Edison workers recently started knocking down monk parakeet nests in Hyde Park that had been made on utility poles. The reason given was that in June there was an electrical fire that may have been caused by the parakeets’ nests.
I can understand Commonwealth Edison’s concern about the potential dangers of having nests in utility poles. But what is inexplicable is their decision to wait until the onset of winter to start knocking down the nests. Though this incident happened in June, it has taken them five months to take action. In that time, there have apparently been no further problems with the nests, so it is hard to see that they have an extremely urgent problem on their hands.
Why couldn’t they have taken action on the nests last summer so that the birds might have had a chance to rebuild their nests in trees before winter came? Or why can’t they now wait until warm weather comes again before taking action?
It is not easy for parakeets to survive winters in Chicago, and their nests are an important aid to help them do this. I live in Hyde Park, and I realize that the parakeets can be loud nuisances at times. But I don’t think the humane solution is to starve or freeze them to death by depriving them of their nests just as winter comes.
