These Monk Parakeets are a sub-tropical species (Myiopsitta monachus) from Argentina.
In South America they are generally regarded as agricultural pests but have not proven to be so in Chicago,
where they are rather popular with the residents of Hyde Park, the university neighborhood where they nest.
One often hears a troop of them squawking loudly about their daily routine as they fly past at treetop level.
According to research done at the University of Chicago, parakeets were first spotted in
Hyde Park in 1973; perhaps they were escaped or released pets.
Records show that by 1979 they were successfully nesting and breeding in the area.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service waged a half-hearted war against the parakeets in the US,
where they are technically an invasive species; they succeeded in
eliminating half of them, but in the end gave in to the burgeoning populations around the country.
The U.S. Dept. of Agriculture attempted to eliminate the Hyde Park parakeets in 1988
but were thwarted by community protests and a threatened lawsuit and had to give up their plan.
The monks are unique due to their complex nesting behaviour -- they build huge, bulky structures made
by weaving small twigs together on a tree branch or electrical pole (they are a major headache for the
utility company, which occasionally tears down nests which compromise power lines).
They have even built on a satellite dish in Hyde Park.
The nest can contain from 1 to 6 nesting pairs on average, each with
a separate compartment and entrance hole.
Chicago probably has the harshest winter monk parakeets face in the world,
and it has been speculated that they survive exclusively on bird seed in backyard feeders
during the coldest months.
