Wild Monk Parakeets of Brooklyn

[Michael]

Kathleen and I went to see the feral Monk Parakeets. I was going to bring Kili along but the weather was a bit chilly and it would have been too much to handle cameras and bird at the same time.

They have feral populations in several parts of Brooklyn. We went to see the ones near the "Dust Bowl" baseball field and park by 65th street in Bay Ridge. They survive the cold New York City winters by building their communal nests on power poles or near transformers to keep warm. In the spring time they can be observed preening, feeding, and frolicking in the trees surrounding their nests. Their green color, long tails, and quaking calls cannot be mistaken for any native species.


Monk Parakeet preening on platform railing


Taking a peak out of the nest


Starling


Monk Parakeet flying back to nest


Then landing and climbing in


Pair of Monk Parakeets preening themselves


And then each other


Taking off


Getting the belly


Staying close together


Getting fluffy


Hello


Can't quite reach


Cute couple


Parakeet kisses


Male House Sparrow


And Female House Sparrow not far beyond

And finally, a video so you can see/hear what it's like to visit the wild feral quaker parrots of Brooklyn:

[entrancedbymyGCC]

Cool! We have local wild/feral flocks here. Sometimes they hang around one of the buildings I work in. http://www.natureali.org/parrot_project/suburban_jungles.htm

[MandyG]

Neat!

[entrancedbymyGCC]

Oh, and I forgot to say, the pictures are great!

[HyperD]

We too have wild parakeets here on the other side of the Atlantic... Although they are indian ring necked ones!

I was surprised to hear that they are able to survive the English winter... I suppose it shows how intelligent they are to seek out warm places to stay!

Not sure if this link works outside of the UK - http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p003bbv3

[oknuma]

ohhh great photos! thanks heaps for posting these

[issy]

Wow, they are so cute =]

Great photo taking by the way.

[Suzzique]

We have a flock of Amazon's that live near by. Not sure what kind they are as they only show up once in a while and not for long. Plus they are either to high up or in the trees and blend in to much. But it is really cool to see them flying around when they do show up. Parrots are more adaptable than people think.

[kimbo]

anyone know how they control the population of these feral birds? in our town centre they cull pigeons, not quite the same as parrots but not nice as they shoot them.

[Kathleen]

They control them by removing the nests I guess.