...to Rochester!
http://www.brooklynparrots.com/2013/07/wild-parrots-spotted-in-rochester-new.html Wild Parrots Spotted in Rochester, New York
Wild Parrots Building a Nest in Rochester, New York.
Photo Credit: Jim Tarolli
Sightings of wild Monk Parakeets (AKA Quaker Parrots) in western New York have been rare. Although the birds are reputed to have occasionally ranged as far north as Montreal, they exist in far greater numbers in the lower regions of the Empire State, relatively close to their original point of escape and dispersion at New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport.
However in late 2012, a team of five monk parakeets was identified building a nest on a cell phone tower in Rochester, New York. This identification was credible, being made by Michael R. Wasilco, Regional Wildlife Manager, at the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation. Subsequent visits from observers, including Jim Tarolli, who took the photo included with this article, substantiated the sighting on a popular bird board. It appears that the parrots have built their colonial nest on a tall (approximately 75-foot) cell phone tower in back of a shopping mall in a relatively suburban part of Rochester known as "Kodak Park."
The large (approximately 50 to 75 foot tall) cell tower in Rochester, New York, that is home to the parrots.
Image Source:Google Street View
To my knowledge, this is the first instance of a sighting in Monroe County, New York. Earlier in 2012, it appears that a pair of parrots had built a nest somewhere in Albany, far to the East of Rochester but still "upstate" relative to the birds' downstate habitat, but the birds' plans were interrupted when the female was captured by authorities, an event followed by destruction of the nest and the disappearance of the male.
No one has yet advanced an hypothesis explaining why wild parrots are now appearing so far north and west of New York City. It's unlikely that "The Rochester Five" flew all the way up the Hudson River and Mohawk Valleys from Brooklyn. Quaker Parrots are legal in New York State so it's possible that the "Rochester Five" are birds that were released from a home or a pet store and "went native." Only time will tell whether authorities in Rochester welcome or attempt to repel these new additions to Rochester's diverse list of birds.
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