Feral Birds

Lilac-crowned Parrots, Brownsville, Texas

Feral Birds

Sorry I have gotten behind on my midweek blog posts. We have not always had good internet and I have been a bit busy chasing birds. I promised to address feral birds. Feral birds are ones that have esaped from cages and have managed to establish breeding populations in the wild. Usually this refers to birds that escape accidentally and not the result of releases by people who want to add them to the local fauna. Exotic species such as parots and parakeets are a prime example. The American Birding Association has now accepted population of some exotics that have established populations and thus  birders are allowed to include them on their official lists. They are always studying populations of escaped birds and they have fairly strict rules in the interest of good science. They mainly want to see strong populations that continue to remain stable or grow before they will consider them established.



Because most of these exotic birds come from warm climates, they are only found in the extreme south of the US in places like Florida, Texas, Arizona, and California. I am currently in Texas as you know and there are three species here that are currently accepted, the Red-crowned Parrot, Monk Parakeet, and Green Parakeet. You had the Monk as the bird of the week and I will be seeing and photographing the other two this week as well as some that are not fully established as of yet but are present in good numbers, such as the Lilac-crowned Parrot. 



I need to get the year list caught up and I will submit portions of the list each 

week till I catch up so as not to overwhelm our map all in one day. The number is up to 340.



293 Monk Parakeet, White Rock Lake, Dallas, Texas
294 Ruddy Turnstone, Bolivar Peninsula, Gulf Coast, Texas
295 Red-cockaded Woodpecker, W. G. Jones State Forest, Montgomery County, Texas
296 Brown-headed Nuthatch, W. G. Jones State Forest, Montgomery County, Texas
297 Mottled Duck, Anahuac National Wildlife Refuge, Texas
298 Forester's Tern, Anahuac National Wildlife Refuge, Texas
299 Barn Owl, Anahuac National Wildlife Refuge, Texas
300 Mountain Plover, Bolivar Flats, Texas
301 Long Billed Curlew, Bolivar Flats, Texas
302 Marbled Godwit, Bolivar Flats, Texas
303 Least Sandpiper, Bolivar Flats, Texas
304 Short-billed Dowitcher, Bolivar Flats, Texas
305 Black Skimmer, Bolivar Flats, Texas
306 Stilt Sandpiper, Terrell Park, Beaumont, Texas
307 Lapland Longspur, Walker County, Texas
308 McCown's Longspur Walker County, Texas
309 Pine Warbler, W. G. Jones State Forest, Montgomery County, Texas

Monk Parakeets, Dallas, Texas