City ParrotsUrban Scarlet Macaw & Parrot Conservation

University of Florida

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — When monk parakeets began to infiltrate the United States in the 1960s, some feared they would ravage farm crops as they often had in their native South America.

That never happened, but the birds did cause a different kind of problem: They built huge, heavy nests atop power substations and utility equipment, causing power outages, fires and countless headaches for utility companies from Florida to Washington. Read on…

By George Moore - Meriden Record-Journal

WALLINGFORD - Their ancestors were from South America, but monk parakeets have made their way to Wallingford. Read on…

The Daily Times By Stephen Keller

A local restaurant recently began hosting a pair of unexpected patrons.

About three months ago, two light green parrots moved into the palm tree in front of the Acapulco Mexican Restaurant on Sidney Baker Street. The couple’s tree-side suite comes complete with shade and a prime view of the drive-thru.

“Its pretty unique,” said David Cockrill, general manager and part-owner. “It looks like a big, much sturdier hornet’s nest.”

The restaurant planted the palm trees when it moved to the location 25 years ago, but Cockrill said these are the first parrot tenants. Read on…

Ken Dixon - Connecticut Post

NEW HAVEN — A Superior Court judge on Wednesday reluctantly rejected an attempt to stop the United Illuminating Co. from capturing and killing monk parakeets that nest in utility poles near Long Island Sound. Read on…

Ken Dixon the Connecticut Post

Animal lovers call them a colorful part of the urban ecology, but the United Illuminating Co. wants a state judge to declare Connecticut’s monk parakeet population a tenacious threat to public health and safety. Read on…

Marconews By Liane Smith

It was a typical afternoon at The Lakes. Neighbors riding bikes, saying hello to one another. Kids running from one house to the next looking for adventure. The hot Florida sun baking their heads and shoulders.

But for a wayward monk parakeet it was time to find food. Read on…

The Oregonian by Holley Gilbert

VANCOUVER — Wild Quaker parrot enthusiasts are joining forces March 1 in Yacolt to erect more alternative nesting sites in an effort to keep the colorful birds from building on Clark Public Utilities’ transformers, where they pose a safety hazard. Read on…

By Amy Crawford Brooklyn Daily Eagle

Steve Baldwin spotted the first handful of bright green quaker parrots at the grassy margin of an Astroturf soccer field. Excitedly, he pointed them out to the dozen people who had signed up for what he calls a “wild parrot safari”.

“They’re doing what they love to do on a day like this — come down and forage,” Baldwin said, as the birders snapped pictures. “They like to eat grass, clover, weeds. When the sun hits them, they glow, like an emerald color.”

Suddenly something spooked the birds, and they took off, squawking loudly and swooping through the air, to land in a nearby oak tree and on the roof of an apartment building.

“Yeah, they like to roost in that tree,” said Baldwin. “It’s safe from predators.” Read on…

The Star-Ledger

If you want to experience a taste of the tropics here in the Garden State, you must visit the monk parakeet colony in Edgewater. Read on…

By Howard Buck, The Columbian

YACOLT — Several Quaker Parrots who have made an unlikely home in this rural burg were a cheerful bunch on Saturday. Read on…