Wildlife
Posted: Sun Nov 03, 2013 2:29 pm
There are parrots outside my window.
This would not be surprising if I lived in the tropics, but I live on Long Island, about fifty miles east of New York City.
They're Monk Parrots, as seen in the pictures below. Supposedly a shipment escaped from captivity at JFK airport in the late 1960s and have been thriving here, despite the colder climate, and gradually extending their range.
They're pretty to look at - vivid green, with off-white bellies - but they are very noisy and they show up in groups of six to ten at a time and hang out in one particular tree in my yard and squawk at each other and at the other birds and the squirrels.
Oh, and we now have a couple of black squirrels in the neighborhood, too. And egrets. And a blue heron. And a goshawk. And even an osprey. This is in addition to the usual squirrels, opossums and racoons we're used to seeing. My little suburban neighborhood is turning into wild kingdom.
![Image](http://img.geocaching.com/cache/large/ba483182-020f-42fc-b01f-86c0c9dfc7ca.jpg)
![Image](http://wildparrotsny.com/index/history_files/x_parrots%20in%20flight.jpg)
This would not be surprising if I lived in the tropics, but I live on Long Island, about fifty miles east of New York City.
They're Monk Parrots, as seen in the pictures below. Supposedly a shipment escaped from captivity at JFK airport in the late 1960s and have been thriving here, despite the colder climate, and gradually extending their range.
They're pretty to look at - vivid green, with off-white bellies - but they are very noisy and they show up in groups of six to ten at a time and hang out in one particular tree in my yard and squawk at each other and at the other birds and the squirrels.
Oh, and we now have a couple of black squirrels in the neighborhood, too. And egrets. And a blue heron. And a goshawk. And even an osprey. This is in addition to the usual squirrels, opossums and racoons we're used to seeing. My little suburban neighborhood is turning into wild kingdom.
![Image](http://img.geocaching.com/cache/large/ba483182-020f-42fc-b01f-86c0c9dfc7ca.jpg)
![Image](http://wildparrotsny.com/index/history_files/x_parrots%20in%20flight.jpg)