More Information on Pelham Bay Park (Bronx) Monk Parakeet Nest Removals

Wild Monk Parakeets (AKA Quaker Parrots) at Pelham Bay Park, The Bronx, New York

I have been receiving more information about the recent actions by the New York City Parks Department in respect to removing wild parrot nests in Pelham Bay Park.This information is all second-hand (I have been unable to travel to the park to make a personal inspection). But I believe it is reliable.

First off, it appears that the lights have been removed, but not the towers themselves. These towers surround the ball fields at the southern edge of the park and have been the locus of the main wild parrot community there for many years.Second, the nets have also been removed along with the lights. It seems that new light fixtures will be installed in the next several weeks.What remains to be seen is whether the new light fixture design preserves the mesh steel maintenance platforms used by the parrots to anchor their nests.If not, the parrots cannot possibly be able to rebuild their habitat.

An eye witness to the removals notes that it appears that the parrots have completely disappeared from the Park. It is impossible for me to say whether they are still in Pelham Bay Park, or have already moved on to other locations in the vicinity.


This whole issue is presently being discussed with considerable passion on several pro-parrot mailing lists I regularly monitor. There is still much that no one outside the Parks Department knows about whether the new lights will be bird-friendly. I hope they will be, because the NY Parks Department has taken steps in the past to ensure that light replacement projects do not disturb the birds; this was certainly the case in the recent renovation project at Brooklyn's Leif Erickson Park. My hope is that similar actions will be taken in respect to the parrots in Pelham Bay Park, but there is much that I still do not know about what the outcome will be. I am, however, a bit troubled that this work had to happen in December, when the parrots, denied of their shelter and exposed to the avian predators that reside in Pelham Bay Park, may face considerable difficulties surviving the winter.