Eyebrows raised just a bit at the mention of 'Quaker Parrot' (Myiopsitta monachus, more often called Monk Parakeet) from the township of Long Beach in Nassau County NY (Lido Beach, and Shell Beach); I may be incorrect - seems the common name 'quaker' is applied a bit more by pet owners & that trade, and 'Monk' generally used by ornithologists and most birders. The species is still seen here & there in Manhattan (NYC) but is not that established, as it seems to be -in some areas!- in every other borough (county) of NYC - probably nowhere more (in NYC) than in Brooklyn, USA. I've not encountered Myiopsitta monachus in Manhattan yet this year, although not seeking them out, either. I assume this feral and now rather established parrot species is doing rather well in parts of Long Island (taking in Brooklyn/Kings County, & Queens County, as well as both Nassau & Suffolk Counties of NY) but is still somewhat under-studied in most of the areas where established. Feral colonies of this parrot are found in cities and other areas in parts of Europe and in a fair number of U.S. states (I've encountered them in cities & towns in one dozen different states).
They've made some progress in getting to as far up the Atlantic coast as southern Massachusetts, & are famous in Hyde Park in Chicago, & in some other midwestern US cities; you can also catch up with them in Austin, TX, & of course in parts of Florida (what feral species can you not see in some part of Florida!?) - anyhow, for a bit more and fun reading, see a 10000Birds blog entry by one of (Queens!) NYC's own Donna Schulman: http://10000birds.com/the-parakeet-of-city-streets-the-monk-parakeet.htm Some of my own first sightings of Monk Parakeets, many moons ago, were as a younger person making grade-school trips to the Shakespeare theater at Stratford, CT (active theater into the early 1980's) - and I was aware of the colony around Edgewater, NJ (just south of the GW Bridge) as well, only a bit later making acquaintance with the colonies of Brooklyn, USA, and then the protected ones in part of Chicago (when Harold Washington was mayor of the windy city), & on to other areas where they are established; it took a bit longer still to catch up to the species in some of their native areas, in southern South America, where I've seen 2 (of 3) named subspecies (one of which might be 'split' soon, if it has not yet been, the one I've not been to see yet- in Bolivia); have not had the pleasures of finding these parrots either in Europe, & don't happen to read as much of them in those palearctic countries where they can be found. ------- Manhattan, N.Y. City Wednesday, 15th of February, 2017 On a milder day (& with a rainbow sighting near day's end, as an almost spring-like shower passed Manhattan along with much virga and other modest pluvia), after seeing that the Common Loon & Red-necked Grebe each continued at the Central Park reservoir (but not any 'white- winged' gull species, alas, in my scanning) as well as the (reddening- up) first-year-plumaged Red-headed Woodpecker in Central just west of East 68th Street (I've named she or he "Feisty", but that's just my silly name- it is however a rather feisty individual, taking on many of the other birds at times, defending its wintering territory with a lot of gusto); I went on over to the Hudson river, in vain search of some Canvasbacks (any canvasbacks) & yet again "struck out" (I've sought them at the West 125th St. piers area - which might be more accurately noted as the area on the Hudson from north of West 125th up to the south edges of Riverbank State Park, or about West 135th (it's possible to scope-scan from the southern ends of Riverbank, gazing down at the waters, as I've done a few times too) even as other birders have reported a motley few, and I am aware that they can be hard to see or not at this location (often may be hiding beneath the dark shaded pier areas on the north side of this area, in winters past) - and went on down to as far as near West 60th Street, where a modest surprise was a roosting Great Cormorant (not a first for the Hudson here, but Double-crested is the cormorant species I find more regularly, even in -recent- winters, at this stretch of the great river-estuary.) Also encountered a female-plumaged Red-breasted Merganser, not an uncommon (indeed the most regular of the mergansers in the Hudson at this stretch) sighting in winter, but neither very common (most winters) here; a singular American Coot was still hanging in up by West 125th Street (it was there from mid-December as reported by others & occ. noted by me too, in that area, an uncommon species in the Hudson down by Manhattan island); on a recent (less than a week ago) pass of the Hudson just below the GW Bridge, near about West 170-168th Streets, a wintering American Wigeon was seen, which has been found intermittently by those who bird that stretch, usually in company with other waterfowl more common in & around Manhattan. The quest for Canvasbacks will continue in Manhattan (yes thanks I have seen a batch in other parts of NY here & there this year, and aware of the various locations in which to see on Manhattan waters east-west- south-north. I'm birding just long enough to recall Canvasback (& both scaup species) as a very - and I mean yes, very! - common annual species in Central Park's reservoir (pre-1990, mainly, but still somewhat regular there going into the 1990's, now nearly a local "mega" sighting, if seen at all, in recent years). Good numbers of songbirds have been heard, some singing, on some of the sunnier days of late; I've encountered over 25 species in (some) song, on some milder days this month. ________ "All ethics so far evolved rest upon a single premise: that the individual is a member of a community of interdependent parts. ~ The land ethic simply enlarges the boundaries of the community to include soils, waters, plants, and animals, or collectively: the land. ~ A land ethic changes the role of Homo sapiens from conqueror of the land-community to plain member and citizen of it. It implies respect for his-her fellow-members, and also respect for the community as such." - Aldo Leopold (1887–1948), U.S. wildlife biologist, conservationist, professor, author, best known for his book "A Sand County Almanac" (1949), which has sold more than two million copies. good -and ethical- birding, Tom Fiore manhattan -- NYSbirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsWELCOME.htm http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsRULES.htm http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/nysbirds-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html 2) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/NYSBirds-L 3) http://birding.aba.org/maillist/NY01 Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
