Backyard Birds: Shoreline parrots
Monday, January 9, 2012
 |
| Parrot in Ridgecrest Hawthorne tree. Photo by Stefanie Gendreau. |
Stefanie Gendreau sent these photos of birds that look like parrots - surely the most exotic birds to show up in Shoreline - Lake Forest Park. Stefanie thinks they might be Mitred Conures but we're waiting for Christine Southwick to make the call.
 |
| Three parrots have been regular guests in a Ridgecrest Hawthorne tree this winter. Photo by Stefanie Gendreau |
"The Shoreline parrots have been hanging out in my Hawthorne tree, eating berries. My guess is that they nest in Hamlin Park but we see or more often hear them on 8th NE and 9th NE in Ridgecrest. They usually travel in pairs but this group of three is what we've been seeing this winter."
Posts
11 comments:
This is so fun!
I'm betting these birds are from the same flock that has been regularly seen down in Mapleleaf! They were even mentioned at one time in Wikipedia.
I covered there return in Of Paramount Importance last month (copied from the Mapleleaf Blog), but had no idea they were also in Shoreline.
http://ofparamount.blogspot.com/2011/12/parakeets-are-back-in-mapleleaf.html
They were identified as "Scarlet Fronted Parakeets" (Aratinga wagleri).
What a fun winter diversion and amazing benefit of our urban forest!
How large are these birds?
This is terrific news!
These are Mitred Conures (Aratinga mitrata), not Red-fronted Conures, probably the same three photographed in Shoreline in 2008:
http://www.komonews.com/younews/28412324.html
They are probably part of the Mapleleaf/Seward Park flock of Mitred Conures. The parrots summer in Seward Park and migrate to the Mapleleaf area for the winter.
There is a much smaller flock of Mitred Conures in Ballard that make Golden Gardens their home. They were observed at the Ballard P-Patch this past summer:
http://www.thezenparrot.com/2011/09/wild-parrots-of-seattle-update.html
Michael Ostrogorsky
www.TheZenParrot.com
Here is a link to a very nice image of a Red-fronted Conure:
http://www.avianweb.com/redfrontedconure.html
Note the distinctive red tips along the front of the wings. No photo of any Seattle parrot that I have seen shows this distinctive marking. Mitred Conures do not have the red markings on their wings.
Michael Ostrogorsky
www.TheZenParrot.com
Hi, at least 10 years ago we had a flock here in Ridgecrest of 9 parrots. They regularly hung out N of 160th between 9&10th NE. Three weeks ago they were back, the 3 you've mentioned, then this Sunday they were in my Cedar tree, same area as long ago. What fun. It's great to talk with them and get them to answer back. I also have a picture taken about 2 years ago showing 3 of them. Fran
In September of 2008 I took photos of what I believe are those same 3 parrots in my neighbor's Hawthorn tree (now gone) in the North City area of Shoreline. Below is a link to the photos on KOMO's YouNews site
George Long
http://www.komonews.com/younews/28412324.html?img=2&mg=t
On a visit to Seward Park in 2007, I saw Scarlet-fronted Parakeets. I have pictures confirming that ID. Also, the first website I saw about the birds clearly shows the red on the wing. If one is positive that some of the birds are Mitred Parakeets, one should consider that there are Mitred and Scarlet-fronted Parakeets in the area.
There were a couple near Paramount Park in Shoreline yesterday. Very noisy and active. 1-2-2017
Are the parrots still around? I do not see any recent chatter on them.
Sadly, I have not heard anything about them for years.
I heard them this week down by Magnuson Park along the Burke Gilman.
Post a Comment