(AP) — Researchers have documented a decrease in Kauaʻi’s population of rose-ringed parakeets, a invasive species plaguing local farms. The Garden Island newspaper reports researchers say Kauaʻi had a minimum of 7,300 of the parakeets this year, down from 10,500 last year. The Kauaʻi Invasive Species Committee has launched a campaign to get people to report parakeets roosts, or sites where large numbers of the birds gather to sleep at night. Some farmers scare the birds away with shotguns. The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Wildlife Research Center suggests controlling their numbers by capturing birds with live traps or with long-handled nets at roosting spots.
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