The Marvelous Monk Parrots of Marine Park

The wild parrots of Brooklyn have had a thriving colony in Brooklyn's Marine Park area for many years. Marine Park is a section of Brooklyn which is rich in history: native American artifacts from as early as the 9th Century have been unearthed there. Despite 20th Century pressures to industrialize, much wild space remains, and this is an important reason that wild life of all kinds thrives there.

BrooklynParrots.com has not yet personally inspected the Marine Park parrot nests, and is very grateful to Mr. Ronald Bourque, of Brooklyn, who took these fine photographs today. Mr. Bourque, an active birder, hopes to provide more field reports on the wild parrots of South Brooklyn soon.


If it is actually true that the original source for the Brooklyn wild parrot colony was "The Great Escape" from JFK airport in the 1960's, the birds which settled in Marine Park may be the oldest living colony of wild monks in Brooklyn, because Marine Park is much closer to JFK than Midwood, the site where the main colony established itself in the early 1970's.


Like other wild parrots living in Brooklyn, the Marine Park gang prefers to nest in power lines whose sturdy structural support and year-round heat provide safety from high winds and comfort from biting temperatures.


Another view of the same nest, which is active and inhabited.


Some nests on Gerritsen Street have evidently been abandoned, a situation which has alarmed some residents of Marine Park, and caused sensational rumors of wild parrot poaching to ripple through the neighborhood.


Another abandoned nest. Why do Brooklyn parrots sometimes abandon their nests? Do they just get tired of the hassle of living in a dense, urban area? Nobody has a definitive answer, but it is speculated that over time, mites and other parasites can begin living in the nests, causing the parrots enough discomfort to make them relocate. Over time, with no blood meal, the parasites die out, and then, provided the basic twig structure hasn't been removed by Co Ed, the parrots will move back in.

This exact scenario seems to have played out recently in Whitestone, a part of Queens where the parrots set up camp about eight years ago. Several years later, the parrots disappeared, leaving their nests abandoned, and have only returned in the last few weeks, delighting those who had thought they'd gone away forever. With any luck at all, it will play out in similar fashion on Brooklyn's Avenue I, whose nests are, at least for the moment, devoid of parrots: a fact which has caused great concern among residents there who have grown accustomed to the birds' daily "raucous caucus."