Commercial and backyard gardeners alike will tell you the same thing: fruit is on the tree one day, and gone the next.
The culprit? In addition to the local bulbul, doves, cardinals, and myna birds, the rose-ringed parakeet is now a known culprit. These beautiful but voracious invasive pests have been on Oʻahu since the 1930’s, but are quickly growing in population numbers.
So to educate the concerned public, Extension invited Roshan Manandhar of the Dept. of Plant and Environmental Protection Sciences to speak at its next “On the Ground” workshop series held at the Urban Garden Center.
Roshan spoke about the parakeet’s feeding preferences and roosting areas, and advised community members about strategies to manage the birds. Extension agents Joshua Silva, Amjad Ahmad, Tina Lau, and Alberto Ricordi from the Dept. of Tropical Plant and Soil Sciences gave a hands-on demonstration to attendees on how fruit bags and screen netting can be used to prevent the parakeets from damaging previous tropical fruits in the orchard.
“Understanding their roosting areas and control strategies were very helpful to both Ag producers and members of the public in attendance,” says Jari Sugano. “Safeguarding our precious fruits in the Islands will take a multiagency approach. As part of the presentation, we discussed the need for additional funding and government support for invasive species management across the state.”
In related ‘invasive pest’ news, Josh was recently feature in Civil Beat on some promising new experiments to combat the Coconut Rhinoceros Beetle.