Colorado Springs Monk Parakeets

[Bill Maynard]

 

Here is my story and I am not necessarily sticking to it.  In the 1980s, there was a Monk Parakeet stick nest/home on a electric transformer in an alley in Colo. Spgs.  The people in the neighborhood who watched these birds were quite attached to them, but the stick structure eventually caused an electrical fire on top of a utility pole. After the fire was extinguished, Colorado Springs Utilities contacted a Ft. Collins-based environmental consultants, EDM, International, and their biologists came to the rescue.  Parakeets forage during the day but they return to their roost/nest in the evening.  The Springs birds were trapped at night and one was taken to Cheyenne Mountain Zoo, I thought one bird died, and for sure one bird was taken to a veterinarian who rehabilitated the bird.  At least a few years ago, she still kept it in a cage at her practice.  I can't remember this vet's name, but she told me this account and she showed me the parakeet. 

 

More interesting, as has already been mentioned, Monk Parakeet is a southern South American species, the only Psittacid (huge family with about 346 species) that builds and lives in a communal stick nest/roost.  Their structures can be huge, the size, and half the weight, of a Volkswagen even.  In the U.S., this established exotic is kept alive in the Chicago area during winter by people who put out seed. Even though Monk Parakeet is on the state checklist of Illinois birds, Monk Parakeets there would mostly likely perish from harsh Midwest winters without artificial feeding.  From a listing standpoint, the ABA Checklist Committee states exotic species must meet 8 criteria to become established in the ABA Area.  Criteria #7 says "the population is not directly dependent on human support." 

 

In Miami and the Greater Tampa Bay area or in Ft. Worth, Texas, Monk Parakeets are locally abundant established birds and they also can be found locally in NYC and in New England states.  To me, the birds making noise in their roosts are as loud as a jet engine, but much more fascinating to watch, especially in April during courtship displays. 

 

Bill Maynard
Colorado Springs

____________________________________________________________
Click here for great quotes from top international movers!

["Nunn Guy"]

These particular parrots visited our feeders daily about block and
half away-very entertaining. They had seven "little ones" and survived
the great four-foot blizzard (their nest engulfed a nice warm
transformer) late 90s.

Gary
Nunn, CO

> Click here for great quotes from top international movers!http://thirdpartyoffers.juno.com/TGL2141/fc/BLSrjpTMAuR1QDiivj9JvPGFU...