On March 21, 1996 John Shelton wrote:

>I've been observing a flock of parakeets in SE Portland for a number of
years >now.

My mother lives in SE Portland (115th and Holgate) and has had 2 to 4
Parakeets in her area for about the last year. She noticed two last spring
and by the end of the summer saw 4 on at least two occasions. In the last
couple of months she has seen one or two off and on. They don't come around
every day--or even every week for that matter. The man next door has quite
a large garden with a big corn crop, and I have seen them in his backyard
probably feasting on his produce.

I have had them in the scope a couple of times and wrote a description but,
of course, I cannot put my hands on it right now. They are not depicted in
any of the North American guides. What I do remember is this: These are
big birds--they seem crow sized or slightly smaller with a sharply pointed
tail, all bright green with a light bill and red feathering around the bill
which sometimes extends patchily out onto the forehead and cheeks. I think
they had a prominent light eyering. Of the birds that are depicted in the
National Geographic guide, I remember thinking the face pattern most closely
resembles the Thick Billed Parrot, but that is not what they are.

Do these sound like the birds you are seeing?