“There it is, there it is,” the song says. “There it is, there it is,” any of the dozens of tourists who surround it and photograph it daily could say. And she could also say it or tweet it Mimosa, the Harris eagle that flies over it several times a week. What is there is the Puerta de Alcalá that, as the song popularized in the eighties by Ana Belén and Víctor Manuel says, has seen time pass, exactly since 1778, almost 250 years in which the granite and limestone that make up one of The symbols of Madrid have suffered and endured the inclement weather, pollution – the most harmful -, humans and other species such as pigeons. And to prevent the overpopulation of these birds from damaging the monument with their droppings and/or nesting in it, the City Council has implemented a system that until now had not been used to protect the Gate: birds of prey that keep them at bay, a a kind of aerial police that monitor and mark the territory. In heritage jargon: a preventive (flying) conservation method.
In addition to Mimosain the template There are also raptors: Falcon and Pichinchatwo male harris eagles (smaller and faster than the females); Saritaa 19-year-old Harris female (they usually live about 30 years), and Maipi and Indy, two male falcons. They take turns, so the pigeons don’t get used to the bird of prey; They don’t make flights at the same time, so they can’t get used to a routine either. After the restoration which, from the preliminary reports of 2022 and until the end of 2023, worked on the cleaning, consolidation and review of the materials and parts at risk of the monument, as well as the replacement of structures such as the lead covers and cost more than three million euros, the City Council, advised by the Institute of Cultural Heritage of Spain (IPCE), implemented for the first time the use of birds of prey to protect heritage. This method is already used in other areas to prevent pigeons from flying freely, and thus avoid different risks, in stadiums, racecourses, airports…
Beatriz Sánchez ―responsible for the urban biodiversity program of SEO Birdlife, an NGO whose objective is, with birds as its banner, to conserve biodiversity, maintains that humans have been using raptors for centuries. In fact, in 2010, UNESCO included falconry on its list of World Intangible Cultural Heritage. But, Sánchez defends that beyond specific measures, such as this one at Puerta de Alcalá, comprehensive measures should be carried out against the imbalance caused by humans. “In healthy ecosystems, species regulate themselves through their natural predators. Cities must be renaturalized. Right now, for pigeons, cities are sources of food, water and shelter in buildings,” he explains.
David Gil, from the company Marbella Falcons – the one that works with the City Council -, subject to Mimosa or he releases it to fly over the Plaza de la Independencia and it, obediently, rises to return to the same place a few minutes later. Gil says that the animals undergo daily checks, especially those that have gone out work the day before: visual recognition of the eyes, the feathers, the excrement, they touch their keel and weigh them. The meat they eat (pigeon or rodents), always frozen to avoid problems. Gil compares them, because of their diet and their dedication, to elite athletes. And as such they begin to educate them from the time they are chickens, from four months onwards, when they turn one year old they have already developed bones and muscles. Mimosa, who that morning was the guard at the Puerta de Alcalá, is five years old and weighs 950 grams. Her owner explains that her name fits her personality, that her parents, who live at the kennel, are also like that. “She is obedient and smart,” says Gil proudly, while putting her head next to his. Mimosa and she responds with the same loving gesture.
The birds that are brought to guard the monument are very accustomed to flying in a space like the noisy roundabout, with an incessant coming and going of vehicles. They calculate distances perfectly so that neither they nor passers-by run any risk. Mimosa He doesn’t flinch even at the sound of one of the gardeners’ lawn mowers. Gema Sanz Calvo, head of the Monuments Intervention Unit of the City Council, is satisfied with the results they have obtained so far. It’s only five months but there are already signs that the work of Mimosa and his companions works. “The cleaning staff has observed that the amount of bird droppings is less,” she says. To which Gil adds that the buildings in the area are also haunted: “Their facades are cleaner.” Sanz explains that in April they accessed the ledge of the Puerta de Alcalá and that they only found specific remains. Before the restoration there were nests even in the crown. The nooks that are likely to be used for shelter and nesting have been protected with nets, one of the traditional deterrent measures. Others, like spikes, “are ineffective,” says Sanz. “Pigeons look for their tricks or cover themselves with leaves and end up not fulfilling their function, in fact, on the contrary, since they accumulate dirt that is harmful to the stone,” says the expert. “Pigeon droppings have uric acid, phosphorus… they erode the stone. When they accumulate, lichens and fungi also appear,” she adds.
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Mimosa He takes flight, sees a pigeon and his instinct makes him chase it to mark territory, not hunt it. She knows what she has to do. He follows her to the Retreat. Then she returns, eats the piece of chicken that Gil rewards her with and waits again for another reason in the shape of a bird to take flight and, in the process, protect the Puerta de Alcalá.
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