"A great number of Parrot Queets"

[blueroseaviary]

http://www.billingsgazette.com/lewis...?date=20040626
An excerpt from the journals of members of the Lewis and Clark Expedition from this day 200 years ago edited by Gary Moulton.

‘a great number of Parrot queets’

June 26, 1804, Clark.

I observed a great number of Parrot queets this evening.

Annotation: Jefferson instructed Lewis to note "The soil and face of the country, its growth and vegetable productions, ... The animals of the country generally, ... Climate, as characterized by the thermometer, by the proportion of rainy, cloudy, and clear days; by lightning, hail, snow, ice; by the access and recess of frost; by the winds prevailing at different seasons; the date at which particular plants put forth, or lose their flower or leaf; times of appearance of particular birds, reptiles or insects."

I found this facinating. According to the map on the above webpage the expedition was west of St. Louis on this day. I was aware that some species of parrots were found as far north as Arizona and New Mexico (I am not sure about California) but this is the first that I have heard of a sighting this far north. I wonder what kind of parrot it was? Anyone have any ideas?

[blueroseaviary]

http://lewisandclarktrail.com/section1/mocities/kansascity/history3.htm

Parrot queets** - The Carolina parakeet, or parroquet, which is now extinct.

More information on the Carolina parakeet: http://www.georgehoward.net/parakeet.htm

[jessicaboyer89]

Hi Jill,

FYI...
There is a wild flock of Amazons that live in California. Not naturally, of course. There is a really great website that I can't seem to find today. :? It has many photos of them in trees and flying as a flock.

[Monica]

I don't know about amazons in California, but I DO know about the Cherry Head Conures of Telegraph Hill! :D Noel loves to listen to any of the recordings that I can get on these birds (one, a sound recording, the other, an 8 second movie so far...). They are found at http://www.pelicanmedia.org/wildparrots.html

There are conures, quakers, canary winged, and all sorts of different flocks of birds, though usually the flocks of birds consist of medium or medium/small birds, usually no large or small flocks except in Florida where they may have a few flocks of macaws of different types...

[blueroseaviary]

I think the Amazons may be at Calilfornia State Fullerton, I know there is a feral flock there I just don't remember exactly which species it is off of the top of my head. I'll see if I can find that article. There was another article awhile back about a feral flock of lovies that had taken up residence at a mobile home park in Arizona also. There are also feral parrots down in Long Beach near where the Pike used to be.

I also heard that there were some escapees awhile back at the San Diego Zoo, perhaps if Graeh remembers the details on that he could fill us in.

Probably the most famous is the flock at Telegraph Hill :)

[Crebain]

My brand-spanking-new Sibley field guide says there are wild colonies of monk/quakers as far north as Chicago.

[The Outlaw]

Crebain:

There are wild colonies of Quakers in Washington state!

THE OUTLAW

[blueroseaviary]

It's amazing that they can survive in those cold weather climates!

[Crebain]

That is amazing, though I bet the Pacific coast of Washington state is pretty mild compared to Chicago.

[Lynjupiter]

In Florida there are flock of wild parrots everywhere. I have heard of a large amazon flock in FT. Lauderdale, bluecrowns in Deerfield Beach, white winged parakeets on the east coast and in my area there are nanday conures. Many many nandays in fact between St. Pete and Sarasota over a thousand have been counted. That is along with all the quakers. There has also been rumored that there is a flock of white cockatoos just outside of my town but I have yet to confirmed this. Since the hurricanes released so many aviary birds it would not be surprising.

Here is a pic of one of the nandays hanging out with quakers. His flock was in a tree and he decided to hang with the quakers.
Lynda