Flock to the Top

by AnnaJo Vahle

Title

Flock to the Top

Artist

AnnaJo Vahle

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Photograph - Photography

Description

Wild green parrots used to flock to the trees around my mother's home in South Florida. I loved to watch them fuss about and chatter to each other. They always seemed to come as a flock and argue quite a bit. This particular time, I watched them jockey for position at the top of the tree.

Parrots are found throughout tropical regions of the world. Although on the boundary of what is considered tropical, the southern tip of Florida is within the neotropical realm (barely), and is now home to many species.

Unfortunately, the only parrot native to Florida is now extinct, so all species found there today have been accidentally introduced and more often than not from the pet trade. Their populations are naturalized, but are quite small and not a lot is known about them.

Monk Parakeets have a unique plumage with grey faces, throats, and breasts, and blue on the wings. They are unmistakable. These pretty parakeets are the most widespread psittacid in North America. In Florida, there are colonies on both southern coasts.

Monk Parakeets are the only parrots that don’t nest in cavities and instead build massive stick nests and live as a colony. There are several nest chambers or “apartments” with tunnels leading to the outside. Their nests can be almost as large as a small car and continually get larger each year. Some colonies have been recorded to house 200 or more nests!

But while the exotic arrivals have been enthusiastically welcomed by many, they can be seen as a nuisance to others. And along with their potential impact on native species, they also present their own conservation questions and quandaries.

Florida utility workers, for instance, are tasked with knocking down giant, tangled nests to prevent power outages across the state. The culprit is the Monk Parakeet, the only parrot species in the world that builds it's own nest from sticks and anything else it can find. In Florida, they construct their messy, communal homes in power sub-stations, on top of electrical transformers, and on power lines. Their handiwork results in frequent power outages, with a 2008 study finding that Monk Parakeet nests had caused 198 power outages over five months, an upheaval that affected more than 10,000 people.

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April 22nd, 2021

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