The Quaker Parakeet

This is an excerpt from an article by Donald Brightsmith that was orginally published in Bird Talk Magazine.
article source: http://vtpb-www2.cvm.tamu.edu/brightsmith/Monk%20Parakeets.htm

They are able to survive temperatures of -27° F . They are able to build stick nests weighing up to 2,600 lbs. They are able to survive intense government eradication campaigns, and of course able to clear tall buildings in a single glide. It’s the famous Quaker Parakeet. My goal today is not to share info on the keeping and personality of this species (see December 1999 Bird Talk for an excellent article on this), but to show you a completely different view of the Quaker Parakeet: the wild side of Quakers. This article is based on information from the Monk Parakeet Birds of North America Species Account written by Mark Spreyer and Enrique Butcher. Mark has experience with introduced populations in the US and Dr. Butcher is an Argentinean who has dedicated many years to the study of these birds in their native habitat and this team has done an outstanding job of summarizing what is known about wild Quakers. So, join me as we explore the often surprising lives of this extremely popular species.

The Quaker Parakeet (Myiopsitta monachus), or Monk Parakeet as most ornithologists call it, is so well known in aviculture because over 200,000 have been imported into the US since the late 1960’s. Quakers are native to the southern part of South America from S. Brazil and Bolivia to central Argentina. They do not inhabit the typical jungle habitats that so many associate with South America, instead they are found mostly in open areas including savannahs and lightly wooded areas. They are completely absent from large areas of dense forest. In fact they do not even occur within the famed rainforests of the Amazon Basin. Perhaps because of this habitat preference they are not a rare and endangered species on the verge of extinction. In fact the species is doing extremely well in South America. In the large grasslands, or pampas, of Argentina the species is rapidly expanding its range as settlers plant Eucalyptus trees near there houses. These trees provide the parakeets the only thing that these open grasslands lack, places to nest. So unlike so many parrots, the Quakers are doing just fine in their native homes in South America.

In the US the importation of 200,000 + birds meant that inevitably some would escape. Some pets escaped from their owners and some owners escaped from their pets (releasing the birds after tiring of their less than soothing calls). Some zoos reportedly released flocks of birds and some escaped from damaged importation crates. All of this added up to lots of escaped birds in many different areas of the country. In fact the species is the most abundant free-flying parrot in the US and has been seen in at least 30 different states. Today there are naturalized breeding populations established in 11 different states including Alabama, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Illinois, Louisiana, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, and Texas. These US populations are confined almost exclusively to urban or suburban areas. Here the mixture of native and exotic tree species interspersed among the houses must provide sufficient food and a structure similar enough to their native savannah homes. The US the populations also seem to be doing very well. Results from Christmas counts in a variety of states show that populations in parts of Connecticut, Illinois, Texas and Florida have dramatically increased. Nowhere is this clearer than in Florida where numbers recorded on Christmas Bird Counts jumped from less than 4 per year in the early 70’s to over 1,000 per year in the early 1990’s.