A parakeet on the loose in a Scottish suburb is being blamed for causing thousands of dollars in damage by pecking away at the rubber parts of residents’ cars.
Residents said the small parrot has been seen wandering loose in Lochardil, a suburb of Inverness, since February.
Neighbors said the bird has been pecking at window seals and windshield wipers, causing thousands of dollars worth of damage.
“Parakeet is not a good word round here in Inverness,” local resident Cathleen MacKinnon told BBC Radio Scotland. “This little chap causes havoc on the cars around here.”
“I have never seen the bird — I have just seen the damage it causes,” she said.
Some locals have taken to covering their cars with tarps when they are not in use.
Chrissanne Robertson said she has caught occasional glimpses of the exotic avian.
“Sometimes it leaves, it can be away for a couple of weeks, and we think, ‘oh we won’t see it again’, but then somebody will go out the next day and you’ll here a shout of ‘he’s back again,'” she said.
A NatureScot representative said experts do not know why some birds attack the rubber parts of cars, but there are numerous theories.
“Wildlife experts have put forward three main theories for this destructive behavior: they are defending their territory against their own reflection, they crave certain fats or minerals in the rubber or they are simply exploring and playing out of boredom,” the spokesperson said.
Wild populations of parakeets are known to live in south east England, but they are not a usual sight in Scotland. The Lochardil bird is believed to be a pet that escaped or was abandoned.
