The New Yorker Mentions the Parrots (But Gets its Facts Wrong)

It's odd that The New Yorker, a venerable magazine which prides itself on its fact-checking, would contain a misleading passage about the wild parrots of New York in its March 19th issue. The mention occurs within the context of a fictional story by Jonathan Lethem called "Lucky Alan," which mentions parrots roosting on East 78th Street and York Avenue in Manhattan.

I happen to know that several wild parrot enthusiasts, after reading Lethem's story, proceeded to this location, expecting to see roosting parrots, and were sorely disappointed. Sorry, folks: the only non-imaginary, non-fictional parrots in Manhattan live on the Upper WEST Side. So don't waste time on 78th and York, even if The New Yorker's fiction department leaves you with the impression that there are parrots there!