I noticed I was getting an uncharacteristically large number of site visitors from MeFi yesterday – not server-buckling numbers, but more than I’d expect from a random trackback.
As may be seen in the link above, my favorite information magpie chez Mefi, none other than the musically-knowledgeable and my apparent neighbor, the redoubtable (if war-cranky of late) y2karl cites this blog in a response to the original post.
Look ma! I’m an information resource! Of course, it’s a throwaway post that just links to a single TV-news story about wild parrots in Seattle (inspired by TFG).
So here’s some better data.
Since that time (nearly a year ago), Viv and I have become friends with a couple who lives near Seward Park, in Columbia City, and they confirm that yes, there is a loud band of parrots that will occasionally swagger around the neighborhood knocking down little old ladies, frightening children, and chucking rocks through the windows of abandoned buildings.
NBC affiliate KING 5 has done a story about the birds (auto-redirects to registration page). Dated February 2003, this may be the origin of the national ABC News story linked by Scott. Friends of Seward Park mention the parrots on their ‘Birds’ page.
In December 2002, the Lake Forest Park Enterprise covered a householder’s experiences with some of the birds, and here are some photos of the apparently burgeoning Maple Leaf colony that y2karl refers to in his post.
That’s better.
A friend of mine in portland is parrot-sitting for 3 months. The bird (“mr. venus”) is so neurotic it wont let him shut the bathroom door without screaming bloody murder, so my friend has to crack the door open to let the parrot in while he’s doing his business. The parrot will then inch his way from the pants on the floor to my friend’s knee, and remain there until the deed is done.
I was also informed, by a third party, that the bird sleeps under the blanket with his babysitter. This came as a surprise to friend(b) after talking with our birdsitting pal for 10 minutes post-nap, and having the bird come sashaying out from under the covers, shouting (b)’s name.
There are several birds cohabiting with neighbors here, a cockatiel and some parrot/parakeets. The cockatiel is extremely sociable, and quite a chatterbox.
I think it’s clear that they use the sounds we teach them to communicate – thus the greeting you describe. But it’s bird-words, which means what they mean is often a bit tricky to figure out.