Wild Quakers

[jknezek]

So I was coming home from lunch a few minutes ago when something bright
green flew right across my windshield and landed in the grass next to the
road. Very strange, I thought to myself. But I'd swear that was a parrot.
Risking life and limb (and probably some middle fingers from people in the
other lane) I pulled into a parking lot and walked back toward where I had
seen the little guy land safely.

Figuring it might be someone's pet, I called out all the phrases that people
use around birds, good boy, good bird, good girl, pretty bird, step up and
anything else that I thought might identify me as a friend. As I got close
to the first in a line of trees a riot of green took off all around me and
exploded into the next tree. It took a few seconds to process, but I was
quickly enveloped again in a flock of beautifully feathered and chatting
wild quaker parrots. The colony was between 20 and 30 birds and was clearly
quite happy staying one tree ahead of me and circling back to chitter at the
invader who had come to "rescue" one of their family members.

Truly a beautiful sight to see so many wild parrots flying and living
together. Anyone who lives in parrot native environments are truly
lucky. Of course, I can also see why, as a non-native species, these
beautiful birds have many people here in south florida in a tizzy.

[MaraJade]

That is so cool!

I wish there were wild quakers near me (well, there's one in my living room. ;) ) but people would probably hate it.

The owner of the bird store I go to just had a runaway quaker brought to her. He was found on a rootop in Queens, NY. Not banded so he might be wild. He makes wild bird sounds right now and she's teaching him to say "quaker quaker!"

[jknezek]

it was really wonderful. my girlfriend has a quaker so when i finally processed what I had seen it was pretty obvious. of course, if you're ever in downtown fort lauderdale and you are on the east end of Las Olas Blvd during the day you can often see 2 pairs of wild red-headed amazons flying between the trees and the roofs screaming and laughing at each other and the people down below.
I've only lived down here for a year and a half, but a friend that lives on Las Olas says that one of the pairs has been there for over a decade and the other pair is offspring. Pretty amazing. Plus one day on a golf course I came across a Lorikeet eating flowers. I guess living in a tropical environment is pretty nice. Still... amazing when you think about it that they manage to make a life among such modern distractions in a totally foreign environment.

[sdgilley]

Linda explained to me once that during the hurricanes (particularly Hugo a few years back) breeders with no way to bring their outside aviaries inside would have to open them to try and save the birds from the storms. After the storms, they'd recover what birds they could. If they'd been left in their cages, they'd have likely died in the storm. So there are flocks in FL of the birds that survived and are "feral". When I visited Lakeland in the past to play golf with friends, we'd see parrots of different kinds calling down to us from high wires. At first I was sad thinking they were lost pets. Knowing that here and there we have flocks living wild is a happier thought, indeed.

[bellarains]

That is so cool. Too bad you didn't have a camera handy ;)

BTW, I have a friend who has an art studio on Las Olas there, it is called Call of Africa. If you get a chance, drop in and check out some of the art there. They have a really gorgeous painting that I want of lovebirds, but a bit pricey for me. I'm trying to talk my friend out of it, but so far he's not budging :(

[Janie]

I'm trying to think what I would have done to avoid crashing my car if I'd seen a sight like that! They are so pretty and to see them in the wild must be quite an experience.

[jknezek]

I've been in that gallery. Very cool. Although I don't remember a work with lovebirds. Guess I'll have to go back...

[zlatushka]

it it this painting?

Lillian's Lovebirds - Shirley Greene (http://www.callofafrica.com/artshow.asp?ID=1203)

[bellarains]

Here's a link to the artist that does the lovebird painting. She also does some other awesome parrot paintings as well.

Lillians lovebirds is the name.

http://www.callofafrica.com/artist.asp?ID=12

[zlatushka]

:lol Lori,

Looks like we were posting at the same time....

[bellarains]

As they say, "Great minds think alike" ;)

I just love her paintings, and one of these days I'm just gonna march in there, tell Ross(the owner) that I am taking that painting and he will just have to have me arrested :lol

I not afraid. His Mama loves me ;)

[linda040899]

Florida has a lot of feral Quakers and they have actually succeeded in chasing away the wild budgie population that we once had here. They are very hardy and build very large colony nests. They are also very destructive. Fruit growers have a lot of damage from them every year. I lived in NJ until early 1990 and Quaker parrots (Monk Parakeets) have been outlawed there since the late 1960's. They survive the cold weather very well and did a lot of damage to New Jersey's peach crops.