More Fauna Business

A couple of years ago at about this time I was fiddling around on the back porch and was quite startled to hear and then see a pair of small green parrots bombing into my large forsythia bush at the back of the yard. I tried to stay still and quiet but they were just passing through and flitted off over the rooftops. I had forgotten this visit until this afternoon when I again had the privilege of a repeat visit. I know, I know…probably not the same pair but you know what I mean. This time I happened to be already sitting down so I was able to observe them comfortably. They didn’t hang around long, but they did make an appearance on the rim of the birdbath, taking dainty sips. These parrots, it seems, never shut up. If they are not squawking raucously in flight they are gurgling and giggling when at rest.

These are “monk” or “quaker” parrots (or parakeets) and they are certainly not native to Brooklyn (Argentina is their native habitat and considered unwanted varmints there) and it is surmised their propa-gation in this area started with the accidental release, or escape, of a shipment at JFK airport in the late ‘60s or early ‘70s. Somehow they have adapted to our cold winters and now seem to thrive hereabouts although their numbers wax and wane due to an occasional severe winter and/or a purge by the folks from Con Edison, New York’s elec-trical utility (who should, in my opinion, zero in on squirrels rather than parrots as wire-chewing culprits).

This year the parrot population seems to be booming with flocks sighted all over the place, including the usual suspects like Brooklyn College, the war monument at Grand Army Plaza and the main entrance to Green-Wood Cemetery on 5th Avenue. It seems this breed of parrot prefers the open nooks and crannies of buildings and the tops of utility poles, as opposed to the obvious shelter of the trees of Prospect Park or any other natural setting (like my backyard). Of course they have become an ecological “cause” and run their own website, www.brooklynparrots.com, which is presumably fronted by humans. Whatever their history I, for one, welcome them to the neighborhood. They are noisy little buggers but they sure are cute.