Brooklyn Parrots Survive Devastating Tornado!

Yesterday's Brooklyn Tornado devastated Bay Ridge's Leif Ericson Park, the home of a flock of wild Quaker Parrots.

A freak category EF2 tornado devastated parts of Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, yesterday. While no one was killed, the storm damage was extensive. Naturally, I wanted to see whether Bay Ridge's famous wild parrots survived the terrific storm, which boasted 135MPH winds.


This morning, I walked East past Leif Ericson's Park. The damage to trees was terrible, and I was very concerned that the parrot nests on the East side of the park might have been wrecked as well.


Some of the downed trees were 100 years old. Parks Commissioner Adrian Benepe was quoted as saying the park "looked like it was the site of a World War II artillery battle."


Fortunately, the tornado veered off before reaching Leif Ericson Park's "dust bowl" ball field, where the parrots live.


I immediately heard parrot calls: here a bird lands on one of the communal nests.


The parrot nests appear to have survived the tornado with no damage. You can see why these parrots prefer steel pole nests to tree nests!


I counted about 18 parrots in the area. They appeared to be uninjured and were carrying on normally, foraging, squawking, and doing light nest renovations. The parrots had survived the tornado with nary a ruffled feather!