Two resident (unidentified) Parrots on my street just raised a healthy baby!

[Carbon]

In a large tree across the street from my building, I keep seeing two parrots of fairly large size (perhaps similar to amazons). I suspected they might have a nest in that tree. I live in South Florida, so I'm not sure if these birds are native to the location or escapees from somewhere. Either way, they seem to be doing just fine. I always rush outside when I hear their calls (I can hear them through hurricane proof windows!) to see if I can get a good look at them, but they're always a little too far. Last week, I saw them go for a very noisy fly about, and I could notice that their backs are green/blue'ish in the sun. They seem a bit dark otherwise, but it could just be because they're far and I can't resolve their color. They have short tails, kinda like those of grey's and amazons, but they're not as green as amazons (at least not from where I can see them) nor as dim as grays (and certainly don't have red tails). Yesterday, my gf and I heard them, so we went outside, and to our delight there was three of them! They just raised a baby and they were teaching it to fly. We saw them fly away, and their brilliant blue backs sparkling in the afternoon sun. It was truly majestic.

Hearing their calls, you'd never think they came from birds. I was more inclined originally to think it was some sort of primate making those calls. Any idea what they might be?

[Carbon]

If I run into them on my way back today, I will try to take a video recording with my berry, or at least an audio, maybe someone can identify them.

[Monica]

I don't know of any purple backed parrots in Florida, although I will say that none of the living parrots found in the United States today are native to the area.

The only species I could possibily think they are would be pionus, although I have not heard of any flocks of pionus anywhere within the states... just mainly quakers, nandays, mitreds, cherry heads, and amazons... with maybe one or two flocks of macaws somewhere.

[Lori~D]

Sounds Like Pionus to me too!

[Carbon]

They're four now!

[prettypenguin]

I really miss Miami- we had parrots in the trees on my farm in Horse Country.

[slic102]

The way you are discribing them, they definitely do sound like Pionus, but like others said, I have never heard of any wild pi's in North America. I do know that in Fla ya'll have wild quakers, and they can certainly sound like some sort of a monkey! Here is my Simon when we first got him....did they sound like this? YouTube - Full metal beak Only thing is that quakers have very long tails, so that part doesn't fit. I did read ya'll also have wild cherry headed and nanday conures, but again, they have long tails. I hope you can get a pic or vid of them!

[LovelySydney]

I have no idea what they might be - but what a cool family to watch! I hope you can get some pictures soon, Id love to see them.

[perchingbird]

The only parrot species native to North America was the Carolina parakeet. It has been extinct for awhile now. Exotic parrots, while fun to watch, are displacing native species when they take over and breed outside of human captivity.

There has been some discussion of Quakers filling the niche that the Carolina left open, as a lot of their life history is similar. I've not researched in full detail though to make an educated opinion on that one.

[expressmailtome]

Originally Posted by perchingbird

The only parrot species native to North America was the Carolina parakeet. It has been extinct for awhile now. Exotic parrots, while fun to watch, are displacing native species when they take over and breed outside of human captivity.

There has been some discussion of Quakers filling the niche that the Carolina left open, as a lot of their life history is similar. I've not researched in full detail though to make an educated opinion on that one.

That is not true. A number of species are native to North America (remember, Mexico and Central America are part of North America).

Matt