Edgewater Monk parakeets. Image by Topdog1.EDGEWATER — The borough will delay chopping down more trees that are home to a colony of wild parakeets in order to allow volunteers time to install nesting platforms for the famed birds in a nearby park.
A compromise was reached this week after several residents and bird lovers complained when borough contractors began removing the nesting trees along Route 5 on Monday to repair a retaining wall. They said that the colorful birds, who have lived in Edgewater year round for several decades, would be exposed to the cold as well as predators.
The deal allows the Edgewater Parrot Society to build and install nesting platforms in trees at a park across the street from the parakeets’ current home and in other parts of town, borough administrator Greg Franz said Thursday. The birds would be able to quickly build their patented large communal nests on the platforms, much like they did a few years ago when their nests were removed from the Hendricks Causeway Bridge in Ridgefield to allow repairs.
“I told [borough officials] that there’s a humane way to do this and everything I’m doing won’t cost the borough a dime,” Evans-Fragale said. “I was pleasantly surprised by [Franz’s] response and I feel indebted to him.”
Evans-Fragale estimates that the trees are home to 75 to 90 monk parakeets CQ also known as Quaker parrots CQ. About 200 of the birds live in Edgewater. They have also been found in Leonia and Ridgefield.
Contractors took down one of four targeted trees on Monday, alarming nearby residents and prompting Evans-Fragale to demand they show proof that they had a permit to do so. Franz said the borough had the proper permit, but work was halted.
Evans-Fragale said the parakeets evicted Monday have built nests on nearby utility poles, posing a danger to the birds, residents and utility workers alike.
In addition to the nesting platforms slated for the park, Evans-Fragale said she would look to install some in trees on Undercliff Avenue.
No one seems to know exactly how the exotic-looking birds from South America came to New Jersey. One theory is that they escaped from a shipping crate at John F. Kennedy Airport in the 1960s, flew to Brooklyn and eventually settled in Edgewater. Since then, the parakeets have become a fixture in Edgewater, giving the town a bit of renown.