Tracking a parakeet invasion

Monk parakeets at a feeder in ChicagoSome Hyde Parkers love their bright green plumage. Others find their squawking a nuisance. Many remain simply enchanted by the serendipity of their existence in this chilly northern climate.

One way or another, every Hyde Park resident seems to have an opinion about the neighborhood’s population of feral monk parakeets, the birds that escaped domesticity and first took up residence in large communal nests built on electricity poles and tree limbs in the 1960s. Now, more than 40 years later, they’re finding new homes all over the Chicago area.

A team of scientists from three Chicago universities estimate there are now at least 500 nests around the city, and have found locations as many as 20 miles away from Hyde Park.

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Popular parrots becoming problematic for N. Texas town

EVERMAN - A growing colony of South American parrots has drawn curious bird watchers to the little town of Everman. But, now the lime green parrots' nests have started to become a pricey problem for the small city located south of Fort Worth.

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Britain's naturalised parrot now officially a pest

Urban Ring-necked parakeet fouragin on a back-yard peanut feeder (Leiden, the Netherlands)Britain’s naturalised parrot is now officially a pest. Forty years after it first bred on the outskirts of London, the ring-necked parakeet today joined gulls, crows and magpies on the short list of birds which can be legally shot without special permission.

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He is the eggman!

Parrots that have long nested in lighting fixtures above Bay Ridge’s “Dust Bowl” will be safe when Parks workers renovate the ballfield, thanks to a delay that has postponed the project until after baby parrots have hatched. Image: Bess AdlerCouncilman Vincent Gentile took Dyker Heights parrots under his wing when he postponed a park renovation that could have caused the worst egg accident since Humpty Dumpty’s infamous fall.

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South American parrots at home in Houston

Houston monk parakeets. Image by Shelly and Roy JohnsonWhen artist June Woest moved into her Bellaire studio, she was surprised to find a colony of green parrots had set up housekeeping in the gigantic transmission towers behind it. A group of monk parakeets - the Polly-wanna-cracker kind of parrot sold in pet stores - had apparently escaped their cages and were doing just fine on their own.

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