First, Thanks Dennis for checking your slides. That's cool that we are a
multi-psittacine city! Fred notes that Monk Parakeets nest in Burien
also. Now what I *really* want is a flock (say 50 or so) Scarlet Macaws
coming to my yard.

On Mon, 8 Apr 1996, Dennis Paulson wrote:
> Now if we can just figure out the identity of the Seward Park bunch.

As indicated in my last post on the subject, I wasn't sure if they were
Scarlet-fronted (Red-fronted) or Mitred. Based on very recent
observations, I now conclude that they are undoubtedly *Mitred* (Aratinga
mitrata). Below is a post I sent to Fred Bird shortly after Gene's post,
with the details:

----Forwarded Message--------------

>From whimbrel at u.washington.edu Mon Apr 8 16:40:45 1996
To: fredbird at halcyon.com
Subject: parakeets

Hi Fred, I had quite an afternoon, but more on that later. I dealved a
little deeper into Forshaw, and came up with this set of characters which
could work to ID Mitred vs. Scarlet-fronted vs. Crimson-fronted vs. Green:

Character GRPA CFPA SFPA MIPA
Forehead |green, possibly |red, but cap |red, but cap |red, cap
|with a few red |not extending |not extending |can extend
|feathers |to eye |to eye |to eye
| | | |
Underwing |green |crimson-red |green, with |green, with
linings | | |few red fthrs |few red fthrs
| | | |
iris |orange-red |orange |yellow |orange-yellow
| | | |with inner
| | | |grey ring

With that in my head, I went to Seward at 3:30 to go down and look. Well,
I found four birds there in trees, but they preferred to stay up in the
canopy during the hour I observed. I did see the iris several times, but
could not get a good enough look to call it. Frustrated, I left at 4:30.
But the birds must have followed me home, for as soon as I got inside and
started writing my notes, I heard them outside! I grabbed my scope and
binos and went down 4 doors to my neighbor at Hudson x 49th Ave S where
the birds were. First three, then two more came. They sat out in great
light where I observed them at about fifty feet through my scope (25 x
60mm). Here are my notes on the individuals, from brightest to dullest:

1. Much red on crown and forehead. Red is a deep, almost maroon red. Red
feathers extending to white periopthalmic ring, and red feathers and
flecking on neck, face, breast. Red feathering present on underwing
lining, but limited. Iris with grey inner eye ring

2. Much red on crown and forehead, almost extending to eye ring. Red
feathers and flecking on neck, face, breast, underwing linings. Iris with
grey inner eye ring

3&4. Red crown and forehead, not touching eye ring. Limited red flecking
elsewhere, none on wings. Iris with grey inner eye ring. Two
individuals, but looked essentially alike

5. Green all over, with limited red feathering on crown. Iris with grey
inner eye ring

All of that evidence points to Mitred Parakeet (Conure). Other evidence
pointing towards this species includes the interest in tree cavities, and
the fact that this species is surviving ferally in southern California
(fide Hank Brodkin of Marina Del Rey). Apparently they are also separable
by vocalization, Mitred being 'deeper and harsher' than SFPA, but of
course we need a baseline to go from. I'm becoming more and more convinced
that 'my' birds at least are Mitred Parakeet. I'd like to hear a tape.

The neighbor came out and talked to me, she said there have been two birds
at her feeder (eating sunflower seeds!) since January, and gradually up to
seven now. I thought it was ironic that after all the effort at Seward
Park, they were right down the road, where I could view them in great
light from the sidewalk.

-------------
Michael R. Smith
Univ. of Washington, Seattle
whimbrel at u.washington.edu
http://salmo.cqs.washington.edu/~wagap/mike.html