Tweets--

I've been forwarding some of the parrot messages to
a friend in Seattle, who's not on this list..he
replied with some information that might be of
interest...

Tom


---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Tue, 17 Sep 1996 12:00:04 -0400
From: Hafizullah at aol.com
To: footet at elwha.evergreen.edu
Subject: Re: parrots

In a message dated 96-09-16 19:52:53 EDT, you write:


I lived near the corner of 15th Ave NW and NW 85th St in Ballard (Seattle)
for several years. I first noticed the parakeets sometime back in '88 or
'89; I had at first thought them to be escaped pets (I'm not a bird man, but
parakeet flight is unmistakeable) and doomed to perish in the coming winter.
I was most surprised to see them the next spring. They were three or four
in number, observable (from my house) in some poplars on the far side (north
from me) of NW 85th; the distance was about 100 yards. Viewed through
binocs, they seemed to be all green. They would often just launch themselves
to the southeast in long flights (they have to be long, in Ballard...) to the
next tall trees.

I also lived for a year in a house adjoining Golden Gardens and heard (but
didn't see) the same sort of bird. I assumed it to be the same individuals
because of the geographic proximity. It would not surprise me to find out
that they get as far south as Seward Park.

Any notions of what effect these imports might be having on native birds,
whether they are aggressive in taking over nest sites, that sort of thing?