Do Wild Parrots Eat Bagels?

Two wild New Jersey parrots munch on bagel fragments in Edgewater's "Parrot Park."

People always ask me: "what do these wild parrots eat?" Well, the fact is that these adaptive animals will eat almost everything: their diet includes weeds, leaf buds, berries, birdseed and even worms, making them as close to omniverous as you can get. These birds' ecumenical tastebuds rank among the main reasons for their unexpected success in adapting to America's urban environments.

But until yesterday, I had always dismissed reports that these wild parrots actually ate bagels: bagels -- one of the great joys of living in New York -- just seemed too exotic for even an exotic parrot to stomach. "Feh!," I'd say, "That's just another urban legend!"

But lo and behold, our Wild Parrot Paparazzi caught up with a flight of New Jersey parrots who seem to have developed a liking for bagel fragments, and the photo above is proof positive that bagels are now on the diet of these adaptive avian invaders.

Only question is -- could this little guy even take off with a bagel fragment if it were loaded with a regulation-sized "shmeer" of cream cheese?