Pip the Parakeet is playinng the pert pest

[matrixrefugee]

Been a while since I gave you all an update on my efforts to catch Pip the loose parakeet who's been hanging around our neighborhoood. I've seen him a number of times when I was heading out to or coming home from work, and each time he seems to get a kick out of letting me get juuuust right close to him before he flutters up into our neighbor's big oak tree where he sits tweedling at me, as if to say, "Tee-hee! You can't catch me!". He seems to be getting used to being wild and free: he's balancing better on telephone lines and he's started bossing around the sparrows and the blackbirds that frequent our neighbor's bird-feeder.

I don't know if this applies to Massachusetts, but I learned something interesting from watching "The Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill" (I'm gonna try getting the book from the library tonight; the movie was delightful!): apparantly, parrots do pretty good out on their own, despite temperature fluctuations. Their main concerns are finding food and avoiding predators. Pip's found a steady food source, so he's doing pretty well

Comments

[(Anonymous)]

Yep, parrots are definitly adaptable. There's a town that I've driven through a few times that has an entire flock of mackaws flying around. At first I thought my Dad was having me on but then I saw one of them sitting on a chimney. No one's sure where they came from but they've been there for years,people are feeding them, the weather hasn't got them yet, and they seem to be breeding so they're probably going to be there permenantly.
~Weaver

[matrixrefugee.livejournal.com]

I've heard there's a flock of Quaker parakeets living out in the western part of Massachusetts, so I'd assume that Pip the budgie would probably be able to adapt to the climate as well.

And that flock of macaws sound a lot like the birds in "The Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill": no one knows where they came from either, though it's probably likely that they escaped from pet shops/people's homes and naturalized themselves. I'll have to write up a review of the movie, it's really neat to watch!