ANIMAL PEOPLE is the leading independent newspaper providing original investigative coverage of animal protection worldwide. Founded in 1992, ANIMAL PEOPLE has no alignment or affiliation with any other entity. |
This site built and maintained by: GREANVILLE ASSOCIATES and CRESCENT COMMUNICATIONS • Rev. 12.1.05 Copyright ANIMAL PEOPLE, INC. 1992--2005
 |
 |
ESSENTIAL DESTINATIONS
|
MONTH: March 2006
Parrot diversity in greater NYC area
Monk parakeets are not the only feral parrots in the greater New York area–– just the most abundant.
Mitred conures have been reported at large in New York City since 1984. A pair of mitred conures in 1988 nested in the eves of a house in the Rosedale section of Queens, New York. They had four surviving offspring, and the flock had increased to 30 by 1994, Marc Morrone of Parrots of the World told Long Island Newsday then.
“People think they are going to freeze to death, somebody lost them, or that they have gold in their trees,” Morrone said, advising that the birds should be left alone.
Though still few, the mitred conures now seem to be permanent residents.
A cockatiel, either feral or an escapee, had the dubious distinction of being the first New Jersey bird known to be infected with the mosquito-born West Nile virus––which in North America has most often hit crows. Caught alive in Middletown, New Jersey, in July 2000, the cockatiel died later at a Staten Island veterinary clinic.
Phil Caidin, the “Bird Man of Central Park,” who died in February 2002 at age 77, became a parrot rescuer after his own white albino parakeet escaped out an open window in 1957. Caidin captured more than 100 monk parakeets and seven parrots of other species during more than 40 years of active rescuing. Caidin told ANIMAL PEOPLE that he could only capture birds who had not yet connected with the feral flocks. Once parakeets and parrots meet others of their own kind at large, they usually are beyond capture unless ill or injured.