South American birds find home in Texas

CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — Despite controversy and threats of eradication, these tough little escapees from South America have adapted to life in the United States. Often they live atop light poles, communication towers and church steeples in carefully constructed communal nests. The monk parakeet, also known as the Quaker parrot, is here to stay.

"Our residents seem to prefer the palm trees," said Leah Pummill, president of the Audubon Outdoor Club of Corpus Christi.

Foraging among the achromatic tones of local doves, sparrows and grackles, flashes of bright green, blue and a hint of yellow accompanied by loud squawks indicate their presence. However, apart from the birding community, many people do not know that for more than 20 years Corpus Christi has had a wild population of tropical birds less than two miles from the refineries.

"It's one of those things that is a well-kept secret," Pummill said.

Every morning, Kanti Bhakta, owner of Gulf Way Motel on Leopard Street, feeds a large group of monk parakeets that nest in a palm tree near the office.

"Seven to eight years ago it was two birds and a baby," Bhakta said. "Right now it's over 20 birds."

And feeding the birds can get addicting.

Beverly Madden lives in the Dona Park neighborhood. While walking her dog Gus about a year ago, she thought she heard a parrot. She knew about the green parrots in the area so one day she put some bird food on her sidewalk, and a bunch flew in. She was delighted.

But they didn't come back.

"My neighbor behind me had them, and so I was getting kind of jealous," Madden said.

She asked her neighbor for the secret of attracting the pretty birds to her yard. The answer seemed simple: a hanging feeder.

Last month, Madden bought 160 pounds of seed.

Finding these birds in new areas could mean that the population is growing or they are flying farther to find food. "I'm hoping they're increasing their population enough to spread over to the other side," Pummill said, citing that people have seen them fly across Interstate 37.

The monk parakeet made its debut in North America in the late 1960s when broken shipping crates released birds in transit to pet shops. Later, pet birds escaped or were released by their owners. At that time the birds had a reputation of being an agricultural pest and many states implemented programs to eliminate the species to protect farmers.