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Rhonda Brown
A pair of bright parrots look startlingly out of place perched in a tree at Golden Gardens.
Green My Ballard: Wild parrots of Sunset Hill?
A friend took this photo recently near Golden Gardens, and I was so surprised to see wild parrots in my Ballard hood!
There were actually three in total, one pair and a single, and may be Cherry-Headed Conures.
According to Wikipedia, there is a wild flock that lives and flies between Maple Leaf and Seward Park, neither of which is very close to Golden Gardens.
Are they a part of that flock, I wonder?
A call to a local pet shop didn’t help. Ideas, anyone?
Rhonda Brown lives in Ballard and is the Urban Crop Circle Project Leader for Sustainable Ballard. Questions, comments, ideas? You can reach her at Rhonda@sustainableballard.org.
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Comments
WIld Parrots of Crown Hill !!
I have experienced these parrots outside the window of my old house .... they seemed to fly around in a flock and hang out in the ravine west of 29th Avenue NW (NW 85th) 1994 to 2000. They are quite wonderful and startling to witness ... I remember looking out wondering what all the racket was ... here were two parrots sitting in my neighbors tree 5 feet from my window (in the driving rain) with their thick little heads and chubbie little bodies creating the racket of much bigger birds. Other creatures from this ravine included rats and coyotes.
Wild Parrots of Crown Hill
We have parrots in our Ballard home and have heard rumors of the wild parrots of Ballard ever since moving to the neighborhood in 1999. We're thrilled to actually see evidence that the parrots are real and still around. This is most likely a separate flock from the Seward Park parrots. Just can't imagine the parrots traveling that far to forage, although we suppose it's not impossible.
Wild Parrots of Crown Hill
BTW, these look to be Mitred conures, same as the conures in Seward Park. Cherry Head is a generic term that includes at least four species of conure including the Mitred conures.
Conures in Maple Leaf
There was a flock of conures that used to fly around Maple Leaf. 10 years ago or so, there were 5. They used to feed on my friend's sunflowers in the summer. I counted 7 about 2 years ago, but I haven't seen them in a couple of years. Hope they are happy and healthy and living in Ballard..
<a href="http://www.birdtricks.com">conures</a>
I think that would be a pretty cool thing to see. My question is, suggestions for what? Are they a nuisance? They seem to know what they're doing and as long as they're not endangering anyone, I'd just feel lucky to be able to witness such a thing.
[url=http://www.birdtricks.com]conures[/url]
I think that would be a pretty cool thing to see. My question is, suggestions for what? Are they a nuisance? They seem to know what they're doing and as long as they're not endangering anyone, I'd just feel lucky to be able to witness such a thing.
My conure started it all?
I think I either started this wild conure bunch, or at least added to it.
My mother decided it would be a great idea to take our conure outside for a while (don't ask--she's a little odd). She rode with the bird on her shoulder, and when she ducked into the car to get something...the bird flew away. We tried for hours to get the damn thing down from the trees in our backyard. We even threw a rope up high enough to catch a branch and hoisted his cage up in hopes he would climb in.
No such luck. This was in 1989, about the time when the first few were spotted. Must have had another conure escape and they became mates?
In early January of 1991, I
In early January of 1991, I looked out the window of my house on the corner of NW 73rd St and 30th Ave NW to see FOUR GREEN PARROTS sitting on the utility wires across the street. I couldn't believe my eyes. Sadly, at the time, I did not have a functioning camera. Thereafter, whenever I mentioned wild parrots in Ballard, I got incredulous looks from people saying there are no such birds living in Seattle. Then, just before selling the house, in mid-February of 2000, I saw THREE GREEN PARROTS sitting in a flowering plum tree near the aforementioned intersection. I suspect there is a flock of them living somewhere in the vacinity of Golden Gardens or Sunset Hill Park. Glad to know there are other sitings!