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From: bob@delphi.uchicago.edu (Robert S. Lewis, Jr.)
Newsgroups: rec.birds
Subject: Re: Indoor Antics
Message-ID: <1990Jul16.153532.1534@midway.uchicago.edu>
Date: 16 Jul 90 15:35:32 GMT
References: <840@cfiprod.UUCP> <332@spam.ua.oz> <809.269c1af8@desire.wright.edu>
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Reply-To: bob@delphi.UUCP (Robert S. Lewis, Jr.)
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In article <809.269c1af8@desire.wright.edu> sbishop@desire.wright.edu writes:

>Also I remember reading that there is a flock of monk parrots living in
>Chicago.  I forget where I read it.  Does any one out there on the net know
>anything about this?


Yes, there are several, growing flocks of Monk Parakeets along the
lakefront in Chicago.  They have been here at least 15 years and have
survived several very severe winters.  Some efforts were mounted last
year to exterminate them (because of fears they might spread and
become a pest), but the locals raised an outcry and the government
relented.  The parrots are entertaining to watch, but I worry about
their effects on native bird populations--recently a flock established
itself in the local bird sanctuary:  I don't know yet what the effect
of this will be.  But the parrots breed very successfully and are
expanding.  Birders are keeping a careful eye on the population, which
now must number in the hundreds.  They are quite abundant at
birdfeeders in my neighborhood and a large flock nests across the
street from the late Mayor Washington's apartment.