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Thu 7 Nov, 2002 09:05 pm
When I let my dog out this a.m., I was surprised to see an unusual visitor at my bird feeder. My initial reaction was that someone's pet parrot must have escaped -- but when a second showed up, and then a third, I realized I was being visited by Monk Parakeets.
The last time we had any Monk Parakeets around my house (to my knowledge) was at least 19 or 20 years ago (my mother spotted some on my front lawn and looked them up since neither she nor I knew what they were). Since then, nothing, though apparently there are colonies of them in Brooklyn and in CT. Does anyone know whether these birds normally feed at bird feeders? I know they don't migrate so I'm guessing they must be setting up house someplace nearby. Interestingly, until they left the pigeons stayed away (yeah!).
Bandy, what is a Monk Parakeet?
Gosh, just regular parakeets, how can they take the weather that far North. I saw lots of parakeets when I was in Hollywood the summer of 2001.
Actually they're bigger than parakeets -- about 10 or 11" long. And apparently they've adapted to our climate, since they've been around here for quite a while (though not in my yard). The story is they escaped from Kennedy airport en route someplace or another and scattered about the area. Supposedly they've perfected the art of building insulated nests to protect them from our relatively mild winters.
I wonder if the colonies elsewhere in the US as per Phoenix's map link also started here. My guess is no or they'd be in more places, but one never knows.
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