Monks Do More Playing Than Praying

RVers are in a great position to view rare bird species on the North American continent. Many birds are not native to the United States but are fun to observe nonetheless. One of my favorite immigrants is the Monk Parakeet also known as the Quaker Parrot. There is a colony of these busy birds in the bus parking lot of the Casa Grande, Arizona Middle School. They are talkers and builders. While we were watching them they were cutting branches off the trees for nest making material. They build huge nests that in their native Argentina can be as large as a small car. They live inside these nests in colonies with each pair having their own apartment. The female lays between 5 to 12 eggs which hatch in 24 days. We had a lot of fun watching them work and play. They are considered pests by many states but I really don’t understand why. They are not going to eat more crops than a flock of starlings (which are also not native to the USA). They have established many colonies in the USA and are even in Chicago of all places. They are able to withstand the cold weather because of the way they build their community nests. Keeping an eye on the sky - Jim Twamley, Professor of RVing