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| Scarlet-fronted parakeets (Aratinga wagleri)Scarlet-fronted parakeets, courtesy Dennis Paulson |
The parakeets, while a semi-tropical species, seem to find the habitat in Seattle's Maple Leaf neighborhood good habitat. Apparently, they've also frequented the Seward Park area.“I heard and then saw three of our Scarlet-fronted parakeets flying over my yard at 12th Avenue Northeast and Northeast 90th Street about 9:30 this morning.“Why any bird would want to migrate for the winter to the north and higher elevation (from Seward Park) I don’t know, but I’m glad they still are around to do it.”
The "Waldo Woods" on 15th NE has been noted even in Wikipedia as habitat for the "parrots".
Local birders Simone Lupson-Cook, a birder and Maple Leaf resident and Dennis Paulson with Seattle Audubon have confirmed these sightings.
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It would be easy for birders who are not parrot people to confuse Mitred Conures (Aratinga Mitrata) as Red-fronted Conures, but the parrots of Mapleleaf/Seward Park are in fact Mitred Conures, so these are probably Mitred Conures as well. There is a very small flock of Mitred Conures here in Ballard that make Golden Gardens their home, and were observed feeding at the Ballard P-Patch this past summer:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.thezenparrot.com/2011/09/wild-parrots-of-seattle-update.html
Michael Ostrogorsky
www.TheZenParrot.com
Here is a link to a very nice image of Red-fronted Conures. Note the red tips on the leading edge of the wings. No photo of any of the Seattle parrots I have seen show these distinctive red wing tips:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.avianweb.com/redfrontedconure.html
Michael Ostrogorsky
www.TheZenParrot.com