By VERA LAWLOR
Contributing Writer
To residents of Brooklyn, New York, and Edgewater,
New Jersey, feeding flocks of parrots in the local park is
all in a morning’s work but to visitors the birds are a constant surprise.
While there are many theories as to how the Wild Quaker Parrots (also known as Monk
Parakeets) arrived in these two spots, one thing is for sure said Steve Baldwin, founder
of Brooklyn Parrots: “They didn’t fly all the way from their native Argentina.”
Contributing Writer
To residents of Brooklyn, New York, and Edgewater,
New Jersey, feeding flocks of parrots in the local park is
all in a morning’s work but to visitors the birds are a constant surprise.
While there are many theories as to how the Wild Quaker Parrots (also known as Monk
Parakeets) arrived in these two spots, one thing is for sure said Steve Baldwin, founder
of Brooklyn Parrots: “They didn’t fly all the way from their native Argentina.”
The most widely believed story, is that a shipment of birds destined for sale in New York
area pet stores were accidentally released at Kennedy Airport in the mid to late 1960s.
The earliest reported sighting of these birds in the wild was in the 1970s.
“There are other theories: that a pet store on Flatbush Avenue went out of business and
released them, that a truck overturned on a highway, but the JFK airport escape theory is
the one I believe is most reliable,” said Baldwin, who leads guided parrot walks around
the Brooklyn College campus where the birds reside.
Across the Hudson, Alison Evans-Fragale, who founded Edgewater Parrots, also leads
tours to introduce people to the parrots living in her town. Both bird enthusiasts hope that
by showing off the birds’ condos — intricately woven nests — and sharing information
about how they mate for life and what wonderful parents they make, people will become
champions of the Quakers.
Public support is critical for the parrots, Evans-Fragale said, because they are on the
Division of Fish and Wildlife’s “Potentially Dangerous Species List,” giving them no rights
at all.
The parrots were placed on this list when they first became prevalent in the Seventies,
and the government feared they posed a threat to agriculture and to native species. To
date, there has been no documentation of either of these fears being warranted,
according to Baldwin and Evans-Fragale.
One longtime resident of Edgewater fills a plastic bag with old bagels from
neighborhood businesses, and rides his bike to Memorial Park to feed the parrots. “He’s
in his seventies and told me he has being doing this every morning for years,” Evans-
Fragale said.
But all is not well in the world of his feathered friends.
The birds — along with their New York City counterparts and wild parrots throughout the
country — are constantly under threat from local power companies that destroy parrot
nests built alongside transformers for fear of fire and power outages.
In New York and New Jersey, Con Edison and PSE&G respectively, have agreed to work
with friends of the parrots groups to tear down the nests during months when there are
no eggs or babies. While for now this is the most humane approach it is very traumatic
for the birds, Evans-Fragale said.
“As soon as someone approaches, the parrots squawk up a storm; then they sit on a
nearby tree and continue to screech as their nests are destroyed,” she said. “It breaks my
heart to watch them.”
Wild parrots in Connecticut fare even worse at the hands of United Illuminated Company.
There, Evans-Fragale said, sleeping birds are caught in nets during the night and put
into boxes where they are gassed to death. These actions have been caught on tape,
she said, and now both Edgewater Parrots and Brooklyn Parrots are working with friends
of parrots in Connecticut to put a stop to the massacre.
Baldwin said local power companies only have to look to other states and countries to
find a better way to co-exist with the parrots. In Florida, specially designed alternative
platforms have proven successful in luring the parrots away from electrical power
infrastructures. In Texas, utility workers trim back nests without destroying them, and in
Britain where many wild parrots now live, new techniques have been developed to
insulate utility wires that stop the short circuits or voltage drops caused by the nesting
birds.
Evans-Fragale spent some time last year learning from friends of parrots in Florida how
to construct platforms. She is currently enlisting the help of volunteers to mount platforms
in Edgewater to lure the birds to safer homes. She is also looking for residents willing to
construct these structures on their properties.
“PSE&G can’t be blamed for removing the nests from their poles, but the fact that these
wild parrots enjoy absolutely no protection in New Jersey is, I believe, a major error that
must be addressed,” Evans-Fragale said. The parrots, she added, were born in the U.S.,
have been living in our communities for at least 30 years, and “deserve a modicum of
respect.”
“Especially because they have all of the great qualities we associate with the American
character: they’re industrious, loyal to each other, they’re amazing little engineers, they
coexist well with other native birds, and they just won’t give up, even when the deck is
stacked against them,” Evans-Fragale said.
Armed with the facts about Quaker Parrots and plenty of research to back them up, Evans-
Fragale approached the mayor and council of Edgewater asking them to help protect the
birds. In June 2005, the council passed a resolution to adopt a much more humane
approach to removing nests from power lines, and urging the Department of Fish Game
and Wildlife to remove the birds from its Dangerous Species list.
Also in June, Assemblywoman Joan Voss introduced legislation into the Assembly to
remove Quaker Parrots from a state list of potentially dangerous species. Evans-Fragale
hopes that the bill, which is now before the Assembly’s Agriculture and Resources
Committee, will be voted on soon. She is urging concerned citizens to write or call the
committee asking that the legislation be passed.
If the bill passes, it would mean that Quaker Parrots, their eggs, and nests must be
protected by the Department of Environmental Protection, or any other state agency, or
local government entity in the same way as they protect any non-game species of bird
indigenous to the state.
“Given the status of things in Connecticut, it’s crucial that parrots be removed from the
Dangerous Species List,” Evans-Fragale said. “Otherwise, we run the risk of having our
parrots suffer the same fate.”
Alison Evans-Fragale conducts guided monthly tours to visit with the Edgewater parrots
and offering an opportunity to see these wild birds at work and play in many locations
throughout town. Bring your camera. To register e-mail Alison@edgewaterparrots.com.
Steve Baldwin takes people to visit with the Brooklyn parrots the first Saturday of the
month. For more information contact steve@brooklynparrots.com. For more information
on the group and how you can help protect wild parrots visit www.brooklynparrots.com.
First published Jan. 7, 2006 in The Animal Companion.
area pet stores were accidentally released at Kennedy Airport in the mid to late 1960s.
The earliest reported sighting of these birds in the wild was in the 1970s.
“There are other theories: that a pet store on Flatbush Avenue went out of business and
released them, that a truck overturned on a highway, but the JFK airport escape theory is
the one I believe is most reliable,” said Baldwin, who leads guided parrot walks around
the Brooklyn College campus where the birds reside.
Across the Hudson, Alison Evans-Fragale, who founded Edgewater Parrots, also leads
tours to introduce people to the parrots living in her town. Both bird enthusiasts hope that
by showing off the birds’ condos — intricately woven nests — and sharing information
about how they mate for life and what wonderful parents they make, people will become
champions of the Quakers.
Public support is critical for the parrots, Evans-Fragale said, because they are on the
Division of Fish and Wildlife’s “Potentially Dangerous Species List,” giving them no rights
at all.
The parrots were placed on this list when they first became prevalent in the Seventies,
and the government feared they posed a threat to agriculture and to native species. To
date, there has been no documentation of either of these fears being warranted,
according to Baldwin and Evans-Fragale.
One longtime resident of Edgewater fills a plastic bag with old bagels from
neighborhood businesses, and rides his bike to Memorial Park to feed the parrots. “He’s
in his seventies and told me he has being doing this every morning for years,” Evans-
Fragale said.
But all is not well in the world of his feathered friends.
The birds — along with their New York City counterparts and wild parrots throughout the
country — are constantly under threat from local power companies that destroy parrot
nests built alongside transformers for fear of fire and power outages.
In New York and New Jersey, Con Edison and PSE&G respectively, have agreed to work
with friends of the parrots groups to tear down the nests during months when there are
no eggs or babies. While for now this is the most humane approach it is very traumatic
for the birds, Evans-Fragale said.
“As soon as someone approaches, the parrots squawk up a storm; then they sit on a
nearby tree and continue to screech as their nests are destroyed,” she said. “It breaks my
heart to watch them.”
Wild parrots in Connecticut fare even worse at the hands of United Illuminated Company.
There, Evans-Fragale said, sleeping birds are caught in nets during the night and put
into boxes where they are gassed to death. These actions have been caught on tape,
she said, and now both Edgewater Parrots and Brooklyn Parrots are working with friends
of parrots in Connecticut to put a stop to the massacre.
Baldwin said local power companies only have to look to other states and countries to
find a better way to co-exist with the parrots. In Florida, specially designed alternative
platforms have proven successful in luring the parrots away from electrical power
infrastructures. In Texas, utility workers trim back nests without destroying them, and in
Britain where many wild parrots now live, new techniques have been developed to
insulate utility wires that stop the short circuits or voltage drops caused by the nesting
birds.
Evans-Fragale spent some time last year learning from friends of parrots in Florida how
to construct platforms. She is currently enlisting the help of volunteers to mount platforms
in Edgewater to lure the birds to safer homes. She is also looking for residents willing to
construct these structures on their properties.
“PSE&G can’t be blamed for removing the nests from their poles, but the fact that these
wild parrots enjoy absolutely no protection in New Jersey is, I believe, a major error that
must be addressed,” Evans-Fragale said. The parrots, she added, were born in the U.S.,
have been living in our communities for at least 30 years, and “deserve a modicum of
respect.”
“Especially because they have all of the great qualities we associate with the American
character: they’re industrious, loyal to each other, they’re amazing little engineers, they
coexist well with other native birds, and they just won’t give up, even when the deck is
stacked against them,” Evans-Fragale said.
Armed with the facts about Quaker Parrots and plenty of research to back them up, Evans-
Fragale approached the mayor and council of Edgewater asking them to help protect the
birds. In June 2005, the council passed a resolution to adopt a much more humane
approach to removing nests from power lines, and urging the Department of Fish Game
and Wildlife to remove the birds from its Dangerous Species list.
Also in June, Assemblywoman Joan Voss introduced legislation into the Assembly to
remove Quaker Parrots from a state list of potentially dangerous species. Evans-Fragale
hopes that the bill, which is now before the Assembly’s Agriculture and Resources
Committee, will be voted on soon. She is urging concerned citizens to write or call the
committee asking that the legislation be passed.
If the bill passes, it would mean that Quaker Parrots, their eggs, and nests must be
protected by the Department of Environmental Protection, or any other state agency, or
local government entity in the same way as they protect any non-game species of bird
indigenous to the state.
“Given the status of things in Connecticut, it’s crucial that parrots be removed from the
Dangerous Species List,” Evans-Fragale said. “Otherwise, we run the risk of having our
parrots suffer the same fate.”
Alison Evans-Fragale conducts guided monthly tours to visit with the Edgewater parrots
and offering an opportunity to see these wild birds at work and play in many locations
throughout town. Bring your camera. To register e-mail Alison@edgewaterparrots.com.
Steve Baldwin takes people to visit with the Brooklyn parrots the first Saturday of the
month. For more information contact steve@brooklynparrots.com. For more information
on the group and how you can help protect wild parrots visit www.brooklynparrots.com.
First published Jan. 7, 2006 in The Animal Companion.
| Urban Landscape Includes Wild Birds |
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For more information about Brooklyn Parrots, visit www.brooklynparrots.com. |
For more information about Edgewater Parrots, visit www.edgewaterparrots.com. |
The Brooklyn and Edgewater parrots live peacefully
with other species of birds, even sharing their nests
with some. As for food? They forage on the ground
and are big fans of clover and cherry blossoms.
During the winter months they often turn to the
kindness of humans for some of their meals.
with other species of birds, even sharing their nests
with some. As for food? They forage on the ground
and are big fans of clover and cherry blossoms.
During the winter months they often turn to the
kindness of humans for some of their meals.