How to Find Wild Parrots in Chicago
You wouldn't think that wild parrots could survive Chicago's freezing winters but the Quaker parrots (also called monk parakeets) in Chicago's Hyde Park neighborhood are a thriving community and have lived there since the early 1980s. They are easy to see any time of year.
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Instructions
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How to Find Wild Parrots in Chicago
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Take the 55th Street/East Garfield Boulevard exit off of I90-94 (the Dan Ryan Expressway) east towards the University of Chicago. From Lakeshore Drive, take the 55th Street exit west. You are looking for Nichols Park, which is between 54th and 655th streets just east of Woodlawn Avenue and the University of Chicago campus.
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Park anywhere you can. The closer you are to the University of Chicago campus the harder it is to find parking but there is ample parking along 55th Street. It is a pleasant, safe neighborhood with a mix of funky shops and old residences.
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Walk through the park and look up in the trees. Quaker parrots are light green with pale green or yellow underbellies and 8-11" long. They have pale gray heads and orange beaks and are pretty hard to miss. In some trees and atop an old apartment building in the north west corner of the park, you can see their large bulky nests built of twigs woven together. The parrot colonies stay warm by flocking together during the long winters in these nests. Native to the hot tropical climate of South America, these highly intelligent little parrots have adapted to the urban environment and cold Midwestern winters by building communities.
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Scatter some bird seed if you are in Nichols Park during the cold months. The parrots survive the winter by eating from bird feeders and seed put out by people living in the neighborhood.
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Bring your camera and take plenty of photos because many people won't believe that there is a large feral parrot population thriving in downtown Chicago!
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Tips & Warnings
Quaker parrots have established colonies in several other US cities, including Brooklyn NY, although Chicago is the coldest climate they are known to survive in.
Quaker parrots are extremely intelligent and when kept in captivity can live to about thirty years old and learn scores of words.
It is illegal to own Quaker parrots in several states in the USA because they are so hardy and can become an invasive species when feral colonies get established, especially in farmland.
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Comments
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maxwood
Jun 16, 2009
(continued) butI haven't been close enough to determine if those are still used. CALUMET BRIDGE A stickhouse is now in progress 100 feet up in an ATT tower at about 13511 S. Indiana Av., reachable by Pace bus #353 from 95th St. Station. This nest is best seen from the southern end of the bridge over the 500-foot-wide Calumet River. On June 2, 2009, I saw (with difficulty, having forgot my birdoculars) a bird arrive at the nest with a two-foot-long stick and jam, it into the structure, twisting and drilling vigorously. The ATT tower is located within the campus of the Resource Center, which has recycling activities at the site, and on Saturdays, besides a chance to birdwatch, an open-gate-day for shopping at the Creative Reuse Warehouse for carpentry lumber and other goods. -
maxwood
Jun 16, 2009
==Hasted & 119th== While the scare stories of massive population increases never materialized, Quaker (monk) parrots have been adding new settlements on the south side of Chicago. The most spectacular is in an electric tower at the intersection of Halsted and 119th St. While a long line of electric towers can be seen crossing the intersection in a northwest vs. southeast direction, the parrots have chosen to build only on the one which is within 20 feet of the intersection, and only 20 feet up in the tower (on a low platform), convenient for watching. On a relatively warm day in February 2009 a few parrots could be seen hanging around on the north side of the nest, like Chicago humans on their front porches. The stickhouse is easily four feet wide and over two feet high. Six other nests are also visible over 100 feet northeast of the corner in a telephone tower in a rear yard, ...
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lg2312
Jun 07, 2009
Quakers are NOT invasive species as once believed. After over 30 years of colonization in over 15 states, there has not been a single report of crop damage.Their massive habitats can, however be problematic due to their size. In my opinion, after causing extinction to the only native American parrot (the Carolina Parakeet) we should welcome our new neighbors with open arms and humanely relocate any colonies that do need moved.
