The Wild Parrots of East Austin

Saw a flock of 12 – 15 hanging out in the ball fields next to Zilker Park, Reeder Field off of Toomey. Watching the Monk Parakeets from my daughter’s apartment balcony. So nice to have these birds thriving in Austin. I remember seeing them in Jackson Park on the South side of Chicago as well.

I first noticed these birds while playing in an interoffice softball league at the Pleasant Valley Sports Park. All of the light standards that provided field lighting contained a large nest built with pencil thick sticks. Some years later I saw some parrots flying around while I was kayaking on Town Lake, near the Pleasant Valley Road dam. I made a point to drive by the Pleasant Valley Sports Park to show the nests to my daughter, but the city had changed the light standards and removed the flat surface areas at the top of the lights on which the nests were built. I was a bit disappointed the light platforms had been replaced, but believed the birds would have adapted to new structures. Sure enough, I later saw the same rough twig nests in the crooks of the power towers at and near the intersection of Riverside and Pleasant Valley. I hope they continue to flourish and make East Austin their home.

Saw two of them in the grass (with two grackles) behind the Shell at the corner of Oltorf and I35 this afternoon.

I see them all the time in Manor, TX. Although as recently as last week, I saw them in Mueller shopping area. You’ll hear them before you’ll see them, because they make a distinct sound. They’re fun to watch. In the Mueller parking lot, they seemed oblivious to my car passing right by them.

My husband and I saw two of the green parrots flying with sticks in their beaks over our car. We followed them to their nest, which resides on the Manor water tower where they have a large best. Very cute :)

Saw them today up Burnet Road by the Omeltty, of all places! A beautiful flock of green birds chattering up a storm! Had never seen them this far north, they must be thriving and doing very well. DELIGHTFUL!

Had a sighting today at Westgate and Western Trails across from the Westgate theaters. I haven’t seen them there before, (and I office there) so I’m pretty sure they are just exploring and not nesting. Cool none-​the-​less.

I’ve lived in Austin for nearly 8 years, but saw these beauties for the first time only yesterday. There were several flying around the West Campus area, near 26^th and Nueces. Put a huge smile on my face.

Saw them this weekend nesting on a light pole behind Tacoba!

Not just east Austin… all over N Lamar too. And yes, hanging out with those pesky grackles. I was shocked to finally see them up close.

Quit your squawking, parrots.

Saw these cuties for the first time at 2009 ACL, while waiting for the bus outside the festival, and I could barely believe my eyes. Then, when I moved east to Mueller in 2014, I started seeing them again – and it makes me happy every time. If they’re in the live oak trees above the running path – as they often are – I stop dead in my tracks in the middle of a run to gaze up at them. Be fruitful and multiply, little monk parakeets!

They always brighten my day. You can usually find them frolicing with the squirrels at Central Market.

I love these fellows and their cheerful talk. They squeak and squawk in the elm tree in my front yard on South 3^rd street as they fly around on their daily chores. Sometimes I’ll go out on my porch and squawk back, just to let them know I’m listening. They’ll stop, and look at me out of one eye, then the other, and then continue their conversation.

I wandered outside into my neighborhood with a low-​grade fever and looked up: parrots in the tree in the empty lot across the street from our house. Immediately, I lapsed into a dissociative state and considered that my fever must be higher, much higher, than the thermometer had indicated just a few moments before. I stared at the parrots like the holy creatures of my imagination I felt they must be. I walked inside, walked back outside, took a picture on my shitty cell phone camera. I sat down on the sidewalk and watched them, sure they were an omen, trying to imagine what it all meant. Flocks of tropical birds thousands of miles from natural habitat? Is this about being «the other», a «fish out of water» as it were? The universe expressing its confidence that I can survive in a new place, in a place that wasn’t built for me, in which I was probably never meant to thrive? Am I to accept this moment of surreality as just another in a series of superficially inexplicable moments that regularly make themselves known in my life, phenomena that surely (!) has an explanation, but just not one I am able to access, one that is forever out of my reach?
I see now, per the existence of the parrots-​as-​Yelp-​category and the well-​written expose by Clay T that the parrots-​are-​actually-​Monk-​Parakeets that indeed, this phenomena is explicable, this magic is not that, this magic is a routine end-​result of probable airport personnel/​pet owner carelessness, or perhaps the end-​result of the resilience and determination of a core group of strategic progenitor Monk Parakeets, or perhaps both these narratives and others; in any case, these Monk Parakeets are not a fever dream that belong to me alone, and magical thinking has not (has never!) succeeded in making the universe less complex. I appreciate the lesson of the Monk Parakeets, the one that says, try not to ascribe spiritual, metaphorical, or universalizing significance to novel phenomena you cannot immediately explain. The positivist lesson that says, before succumbing to the enthralling romance of life’s mysteries, first Try Google. Research before magic. Research is beautiful, too.

I’ve been seeing two or three at bird feeders in the Oakmont neighborhood over the past three weeks but yesterday i was walking down Oakmont Boulevard and there were about twenty of them bathing and chattering in a puddle in the middle of the intersection at 36^th. It was a pretty wonderful sight.

Ive seen them twice this year! Saw two around May flying near the business park on IH35 just before Rundberg (where Rackspace is). Then in June there were several chilling out in a grassy area in front of the strip mall on Lamar and 183. This is the strip mall where El Nuevo Mexico is accross from Big Star Bingo. Seems like they have been hanging around the north side lately. So cool to see!

This all happened whenever a few Monk Parakeets escaped from an airport here in Texas. I believe it was just 7 of them that escaped. Since then their population has burgeoned and Texas has become a part of their habitat (they can also be found in Florida and New England). Now the Monk Parakeets are all over Austin. Commonly mistaken for Parrots due to their larger their average size, Monk Parakeets will surely be one of the more amorous attractions here in Austin with their loud squawks, and how much of an anomaly they are compared to the rest of the bird populace in the city. As a birdwatcher, I love their presence, and feel enraptured each time I see them. I couldn’t tell you how shocked I was whenever I first saw them when I was 14 chowing down on the food on the bird feeders looking rather distinct compared to all of the doves and sparrows outside.

5 of these beauties are currently hanging out at a business park by my work off of Riverside and Met Center in East Austin. I have spotted them twice in the past two weeks. I hope to see them again on my next lunch walk!

I saw one one 51^st and Guadalupe this week! I pulled over and watched her/​him (how do you tell the difference??) gnaw on some branches and hang out on a tree.
My companion and i wondered aloud, «is this someone’s pet??? should we launch a revue mission???»
I found this Unilocal page through internet research, and i have these parrot to thank for sparking an interest in bird watching!
Also: This blog had some useful amplifying information,