A few days ago I went in search of a Monk Parakeet colony that I had heard about. It is located in Winter Haven, FL which is the next town over from where I live. I saw 3 that day but this morning had better luck (saw 6) and the lighting conditions were better for pictures.

These birds are native to South America but years ago a few escaped during shipping or people who bought them as pets either had them get loose or released them. Now there are groups of them in Florida. There are other groups that have learned to exist in much colder places as well. Connecticut is a favorite place for these birds.

They love to nest near electric transformers. I'm sure up north it's for the heat. But they do it in Florida too. Keeping that in mind, I found this nest in the middle of 3 transformers.



This has caused problems with fires and power outages. In CT the power company resorted to a mass gassing of the birds in 2005 much to the dismay of animal lovers. They finally stopped after public pressure was put on them.

The only native parakeet in North America, the Carolina parakeet, was wiped out nearly 100 years ago. So we now have these as a replacement. I hoped they are left alone. At least in Florida that seems to be the case. This nest is documented as being at the current location for the past 2 years.

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Beautiful birds (and pictures, of course). Thanks for the background story.
Do these birds thrive okay in Florida?

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I don't suffer from insanity, I enjoy every minute of it!

This site has reports of birds from the limited amount of people that use it. Even though the site is not large, you can see the population is quite healthy. You can zoom in closer to see exact locations and, if you click on the markers, you can also see who is reporting.

http://ebird.org/ebird/GuideMe?speci...y=6&continue=t

BTW, anyone can join in to report birds they have seen in their area. It's free and fun.

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