Parrot Park

At Veterans' Memorial Park in Edgewater NJ, right on the Hudson River, lives a colony of Monk Parrots. These birds are descendents of a batch of birds who were being imported from South America in the 1960s for the pet trade. While they were being unloaded at JFK Airport the pallet holding their cages was dropped and they all escaped. Some made homes in New York City and some crossed the river to make their home in New Jersey.

They are able to survive the winters because they build huge multi-compartment nests in heaps of sticks. This gives them some shelter, and since in the winter as many as 12 birds live in each compartment, their mutual body heat keeps them warm.

They are fascinating to watch, although difficult to see once the leaves are out since their body color is a close match to the color of the leaves.

A nice clear view of a parrot	Another parrot	A couple of birds in the branches
A courting pair	The deli across the street. Sadly, it closed later in the summer	A typical nest
A couple more nests, and 8 parrots	Peaking out of a nest	Three in a nest
Mary Ann looking for parrots	Riverside Church, across the river in Manhattan