"I'll Take Manhattan" (Wild Parrots on the Upper West Side)

A pair of wild Quaker Parrots is nesting on the Upper West Side. These would be the first wild parrots to "take Manhattan" in a long time.

As first reported on Marie Winn's Web site, a pair of wild Quaker Parrots is now nesting on the Upper West Side at 103rd and Amsterdam Avenue. When BrooklynParrots.com heard the news on Saturday, it immediately dispatched a team of Wild Parrot Paparrazi to get some photos.

We are pleased to hear that the parrots are back on Manhattan Island. The last known pair of wild parrots, nesting at Trinity Church, was wiped out in the attacks of 9/11/2001. But we are also troubled. 103rd and Amsterdam is a fairly tough block (for humans as well as birds), and we don't know what the apartment owner/renter is going to do once he/she finds out that there are wild parrots in the vicinity. We are told by a knowledgeable source in the neighborhood that the landlord of the building is "a nice guy" but we know nothing about the tenant. Let's hope for the best. If these pair weather the winter, and a baby is the fruit of their union, we'll have the first wild parrot born in the wilds of Manhattan in many years.


There are no above-ground power lines or (to my knowledge) stadium floodlight arrays in Manhattan, so wild Quaker Parrots must use the space under air conditioners for their nests. This nest is on the 6th Floor.


The male Quaker Parrot (with a stick in his beak) has harvested this nest material from a small park in a housing project just to the east of the apartment building.

It will be very interesting to see whether these adventerous parrots survive. Frankly, I am doubtful of their odds. The skies over Manhattan are largely controlled by ravenous predators (such as the hawks which Marie Winn discusses on her site) the streets are crowded with ground-based predators such as dogs, and many people are bird-phobic (landlords regularly poison pigeons in Manhattan).

We're not saying that you have to be a predator to actually enjoy living in Manhattan, but hey -- it sure helps. Still, we should give these brave parrots a hand: if anybody can take Manhattan, the gutsy Quaker Parrots can.

Thanks to Peggy M., of Brooklyn, for tipping me about this exciting development.