Stewart et al.,

I did once see a pair of these guys investigating a large hole in a doug fir
snag in Seward Park, right along the loop road near its northernmost point.

I also once saw a Rose-ringed Parakeet flying at Seward Park with a pair of
Aratingas.

Gene.

----- Original Message -----
From: "Stewart Wechsler" <ecostewart at quidnunc.net>
To: "Eugene and Nancy Hunn" <enhunn323 at comcast.net>; "Ian Paulsen"
<birdbooker at zipcon.net>
Cc: <tweeters at u.washington.edu>
Sent: Wednesday, February 01, 2006 11:09 PM
Subject: RE: [Tweeters] Mitred Conure/Parakeet id + Seward (seattle) Conure
ID


> While in the summer the flock of green Aratinga/Conures/Parakeets with red
> foreheads are seen and heard loudly squaking regularly near or in Seward
> Park, I've heard various reports of them being seen in the winter in the
> north end of Seattle or maybe in the county north of the city limits. The
> movement pattern is interesting, but unsurprising for the non-breeding
> season. I expect that they move around whenever the food is better
> somewhere else. As many of you may know, they are among the most
> intelligent birds and are long-lived, I presume, to pass on information to
> the flock, so I expect they know where the food is over the non-breeding
> season better than almost any flock of birds in the Seattle area. The
> flock
> has been around for decades. I first saw them at Seward in the early to
> late 70"s. As such long lived birds, it is possible that some are the
> same
> birds I saw in the 70's.
>
> Has anyone seen nests (or active nest holes)? I don't know that I've
> heard
> of reports of their nests. From the web search I just did I expect they
> are
> hole nesters like most members of their genus
>
> Thanks for the, at least tentative, IDs and the anecdotes. The one food I
> noted them eating at Seward Park was green cottonwood fruits.
>
> I once saw pictures of numerous almost identical parakeets from S. and
> Central America that were of different species, so it is no surprise that
> it
> may be tricky to verify the exact species.
>
> For those who want to see them in the summer, the spot I've most
> frequently
> seen them is along the internal loop road that you can drive at the first
> parking lot (for shelter 3 and the bathroom building), at the top of the
> large Douglas-fir snag between the parking lot and the loop road.
>
> Stewart Wechsler
> Seattle
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Eugene and Nancy Hunn [mailto:enhunn323 at comcast.net]
> Sent: Wednesday, February 01, 2006 6:35 PM
> To: Stewart Wechsler; Ian Paulsen
> Cc: tweeters at u.washington.edu
> Subject: Re: [Tweeters] Mitred Conure/Parakeet id + Seward (seattle)
> Conure
> ID
>
>
> Tweets,
>
>
>
> Some years ago Dennis Paulson observered two adults with two young at his
> feeders in Seattle's Maple Leaf district. As I recall he identified them
> at
> that time as "Crimson-fronted Parakeets" (Aratinga finschi), which is a
> species normally residenty from se Nicaragua to western Panama. We
> reported
> flocks of up to 16 Aratingas seen on the Seattle CBC as this species in
> 2000, but the following year changed that identification on Dennis's
> recommendation to "Scarlet-fronted Parakeet" (Aratinga wagleri) or hybrids
> of A. wagleri and the "Mitred Parakeet" (= "Mitred Conure," Aratinga
> mitrata), both very similar to A. finschi but of Andean origin.
>
>
>
> By the way, the famous parrots of Telegraph Hill in San Francisco (Mark
> Bittner's _Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill_) are mostly "Cherry-headed
> Conures" (a.k.a. "Red-masked Parakeets," Aratinga erythrogens) though at
> least one female Mitred Conure is in the flock and appears to be breeding
> with the others.
>
>
>
> They're all medium-sized, long-tailed mostly green parakeets with variable
> amounts of red about the head.
>
>
>
> It seemed for a while that the Maple Leaf birds might be the same as the
> Seward Park birds, simply moving around seasonally, but that remains to be
> demonstrated.
>
>
>
> Gene Hunn.
>
>
> --
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