Wild Parrots of Brooklyn

Posted by mike as Strange Creatures

Yes, Brooklyn has packs of feral parrots flying around…I had no idea. I have yet to see and any of them, but this article from the Washington Post indicates they can be found around Greenwood Cemetery. Thought to be escapees from pet shops, these parrots have grown in number and prospered. There are many stories about how they got here, and Brooklyn Parrots, a website dedicated to protecting the wild birds, had further information:

More than 60,000 wild parrots of this type (Myopsitta Monachus) were shipped from South America to the U.S.A. during the 1960s and early 1970s. Why so many? Well, the Argentineans had just spent 10 years trying to wipe these parrots out. In fact, a government-sponsored program managed to kill more than 400,000 of them in the late 1950s and early 1960s. But in the mid 1960’s, someone had a bright idea: instead of killing them, why not ship them to the U.S.A. and make a few extra dollars? And thus did the great influx begin.

The site also speculates as to why there are so many in Brooklyn. A shipment of the birds was reportedly accidentally released at Kennedy Airport in the late 1960’s. Can you imagine being the guy who accidentally opened a crate of parrots and having them all fly out at you, circle around, and then disappear over the horizon? The website also goes in to more detail about finding the parrots for yourself:

If you’re interested in seeing the birds, your first stop should be Brooklyn College. Take the #2 train (7th Avenue IRT) to the end of the line, walk 1 block Southeast on Hillel Road, and you’ll be at Campus Road. On an average day with no subway troubles, you should be able to make the trip from anywhere in midtown Manhattan in an hour or less.

I’m certainly going to make this trip.