Posted on 12/30/2022 5:29:36 PM PST by DUMBGRUNT
Hundreds of monk parakeets, escapees from the pet trade, have settled beneath the city’s elevated highway.
The non-native birds have become an unlikely fixture in the urban landscape of the Windy City, where large numbers of the striking green-and-gray parakeets live year-round.
Chicago is on a main flyway for migratory birds, but monk parakeets have put down deep roots here. The South American members of the parrot family were brought north in the 1950s and 1960s and sold as pets,
But they have long had fans in high places here. Former Chicago Mayor Harold Washington, who lived across the street from one of their first settlements in Hyde Park, considered them a good-luck charm and pushed back against federal efforts to eradicate the birds, Mr. Pruett-Jones said
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I didn’t know parrots could live in a place so cold.
Cities are climate islands full of imported trees and bushes. Parrots could not live in flat, cold, agricultural Illinois. But they can thrive in the City.
When I lived Hyde Park, I woke to seeing these birds in my backyard. Gorgeous and unexpected.
When I was dating my future wife, from the far south side, one day she cooked dinner at her place and I took out the garbage and heard a cacophony of squawks overhead. I didn’t know about them but she said they lived around there. They had, and might still have, a huge stick nest on a utility pole by Wolf Lake.
Norwegian Blue parrot really DID exist - but now they are all ‘stiff, bereft of life and ex-parrots’
Precious and brave little birds.
We had temps of 9 below zero for two nights and I was quite sure that Louise, little stray cat I feed, had died. Didn’t see her for days. And suddenly, here she came. God is good.
That’s amazing. We feed the birds and have 58 different types of birds that come to our yard throughout the year. A lot of our visitors think the American Goldfinches that frequent our feeders year round are parakeets.
If they visited my area of North Cal. the Crows and the Bluejays would probably wage battle against the Parrots for territory. I’ve seen a small flock (murder?) of Crows chasing a Sun Conure down the highway, into a park.
A friend lived at 53 and Harper, I never saw any birds when visiting.
Being from Portage Park, I knew I was very close to the edge of the earth!
Here be dragons!
—” the Crows and the Bluejays would probably wage battle against the Parrots”
A friend that had hunted crows could expound on how smart they are.
He claimed you could walk in the woods unarmed and pass through the thick of them but not with a shotgun.
Methinks the crows would muscle them out.
We used to go crow hunting in Missouri farm fields. Never shot one. We’d be driving down a country road and start slowing down. The crows took off as soon as the car stopped or somebody got out.
We have a stray cat that hangs around the apartments here. The neighbor lady named him Max and feeds him, even tho she’s not supposed to. There are raccoons that hang around the area.
He has an ear that’s been either partially bitten off, or he’s been neutered.
It’s been really cold here in Northern Illinois, but he’s pretty fat. Our cats hang around the windows looking for him. I feel sorry for him, but he seems to be doing ok.
Long Island has some parakeets too but they have it easy in comparison.
They make group nests and keep each other warm but I think also like transformers on utility lines and cause damage. The power companies get rid of them.
For a couple of years in the early 70’s I had my first apartment in Hyde Park on the same street as the park where they had their huge nest, big as a vw bug. I would get home from work and cross the street with my dog into the park and it was just about 60 feet away. Harold Washington, the mayor, was so protective that he had a squad car permanently parked under it for awhile. Sad to read they are gone from there. It was wild to see a flock of them fly over you.
Ornithilogists (bird scientists) have found that parrots and crows both have tool using ability and are highly social — key markers of intelligence. I think that in battles between monk parrots and crows that parrots would have the advantage due to their sturier build and hooked beaks, dense communal nests, and gang like behavior when feeding or fighting adversaries. More likely though is that being smart and with different feeding and nesting habits, crows and parrots would avoid conflict.
I think a nest of them would be great but I can see the power companies point of view.
We have raccoons too. I don’t like leaving food out all night. Louise comes just after dark and Usually she eats enough, I bring the rest of it in so raccoons are not attracted. A neighbor feeds cats too. Nice guy, wrote a cure little book about cats. We compare notes feeding times, etc.
Raccoons have rabies and are very dangerous to cats. I put nuts out for squirrels too, and they sleep all night, munch nuts in the morning, no competition with the cats.
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