October 7th, 2008 by Gypsy

Photo: Wild Quaker Parrots in Flight Over Midwood, Brooklyn
How did they get here? It’s a long story!

Attention all Urban Parrot fans: the next Wild Brooklyn Parrot Safari will happen on Saturday, November 8th, 2008, at 12 Noon. All interested wild parrot fans should meet at Brooklyn College’s Hillel Gate, which is at the intersection of Hillel Place and Campus Road. Our tour runs in two sections. You can attend either section, or both, depending on how many wild parrots you’d like to see!

Please e-mail me if you want to attend, so I know how many folks are coming. Note: there is no rain date for this trip. If we’re rained out, please join us in December.

Wild Parrot Safari — First Section (Brooklyn College): 12:00 Noon to 1:30PM
At noon, we’ll inspect the Brooklyn Parrots’ “Ellis Island.” Their large nests around the soccer field represents the first major colony in Brooklyn. The site is easy to get to via public transportation. Just take the Number 2 train (Seventh Avenue IRT) to the end of the line, walk one block Southwest on Hillel Street past the new Starbucks, and look for the main Brooklyn College date. The tour begins at the entrance at Noon sharp. Allow some extra time, given that the MTA is doing lots of construction/train re-routing on weekends. Driving instructions are available at Brooklyn College’s main Web site. Parking is fairly easy to come by in the neighborhood. If you’re late, just call me: I’ll give you directions so that you can meet up with us if the tour is already in progress.

Wild Parrot Safari — Second Section (Green-Wood Cemetery): 2:30PM-5PM.
Due to popular demand, our monthly tour will run an optional “second section.” After getting our share of the raucous antics of the Brooklyn College Parrots, at approximately 1:45 PM, our group will walk to the Q Train (BMT) station at Avenue H and journey to Green-Wood Cemetery, where we will observe the late-afternoon antics of the parrots residing there. If you just want to see the Green-Wood parrots, show up at 2:30 PM and we’ll be there. To get to Green-Wood, take the R Train to 25th Street and walk one block East to 25th and 5th Avenue.

What to Bring/What to Wear
Please bring a photo ID (this is required by Brooklyn College Security). Bring binoculars and a camera if you’d like to immortalize your wild parrot-watching experience. The weather will be warm if not hot, and we’ll be exposed to the wind and possibly strong sun, so bring a hat/sunscreen if you have sensitive skin. I ordinarily do not cancel the tour unless the forecast is for sustained rain in which birds will not fly.

Please feel free to wear anything except bright orange (Monk Parrots freak out when you show them something orange: in fact orange tags are one of the best ways to convince Monk Parrots to build away from electrical infrastructure). Wear green, blue, white, but orange will drive away the birds.

This Tour is Free, But the Parrots Are Hungry!
The Wild Parrot Safari is free - if you wish to help your hungry urban feathered friends, bring some bird seed: trust me, the parrots won’t soon forget the gesture. Wild monk parrots also appreciate “real parrot food,” especially unshelled peanuts, sliced apples, and raw sunflower seeds. Finch food or millet are always welcomed by our hungry urban “peeps.”

See you in wild, exotic Brooklyn!

Steve Baldwin, Webmaster, BrooklynParrots.com
steve@brooklynparrots.com
646-361-2879 (phone)

October 7th, 2008 by Gypsy

Image reproduced with permission from Meredith Gran.

Talented graphic artist Meredith Gran is the author of Octupus Pie: A Brooklyn Drama, and one of Brooklyn’s wild Quaker Parrots shows up in a recent episode. I don’t want to spoil the drama but the plot involves a sick bird, a slacker with a heart of gold, and a very happy ending. Meredith tells me that some of this action was inspired by my own tale of an attempted rescue of a sick parrot that didn’t go half as well.

Octupus Pie is a witty, poignant, delightful series about life in Brooklyn. Oh, just a quick note to kids and skittish parents: the stories occasionally contain some frank language characteristic of young Brooklynites.

You can experience more of Meredith’s fine work at octopuspie.com.

October 5th, 2008 by Gypsy

In the wild Caiques live high in the tree tops and eat seeds, berries and fruits. Tame Caiques can be fed a commercial formulated diet of seed or pelleted food.

While a commercial formulated diet does meet most of the nutritional requirements of the Caique Parrot, it does lack the phytonutrients found in fresh vegetables, fruits, seeds and grains. A Caique can also become bored with a formulated diet. A good balanced diet for a Caique parrot will include a mixture of seed and pelleted food and a variety of fresh vegetables and fruit. Chickweed, dandelion leaves, green peas, sweet corn, carrots and carrot greens, beet greens, lettuce, watercress and sweet potatoes are excellent vegetables to offer your Caique. Caiques will also enjoy spinach and broccoli, which will have the added benefit of adding calcium to their diet. Fruits that Caiques will enjoy include, raisons, apples, bananas, peaches, pears, apricots, plums and bananas. Be sure to remove the seeds from the apples as they can be toxic. Caiques especially like walnuts and these can be offered as treats, especially during training.

Any fresh food that has not been eaten should be discarded after 24 hours.

Gravel and oyster shell can be offered as a calcium supplement and Caiques will enjoy having a cuttlebone to help keep their beaks trimmed and in good shape.

Additional vitamin supplements can be added to their drinking water or sprinkled on their food.

Offer your Caique fresh water several times a day. They do enjoy having a bath, so it is a good idea to supply a larger dish of water for bathing and a separate, smaller dish for drinking.

As with all birds, do not feed Nanday Conures, avocados, chocolate, coffee or salt. Chocolate and coffee contain theobromine, an alkaloid that is toxic to birds. Avocado is also toxic to birds. Foods with a high salt content are harmful to birds because they can not excrete salt.

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