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A feral parakeet sits on a power line as another flies
away. (AP) | |
They fly through the park shrieking and squawking, their chartreuse feathers flashing. Nobody
in Florida, Mexico or another tropical place would give them a second
look.
But under the Pacific Northwest's lead-gray skies, a feral flock of colorful parakeets
flies around Seward Park, a 300-acre island of green in southeast Seattle
where they have taken up residence.
Needless to say, they're not natives.
"They're such an anomaly here. You can have the quietest, most peaceful
morning, and suddenly they're squawking and talking," said Christina
Gallegos, a Seattle Parks and Recreation Department naturalist at Seward
Park, who estimated the flock to be 20 to 24 strong.
The birds first showed up in Seward Park some time in the early 1990s.
They're generally agreed to be crimson-fronted parakeets, native to
Central America. Marked with red patches on their faces, the green
parakeets are bigger than the typical pet budgie most people are familiar with.
"For us, it's just fun," said avian devotee Fred Bird, a past president
of the Washington Ornithological Society who studies the little band of
parakeets.
The flock usually call Seward Park home but have been known to migrate
5 miles north to another park in Seattle for part of the year.
The flock of parakeets undoubtedly began as pets who escaped from their
owners, Bird said. Such escapees are relatively common wherever pet birds
are kept.
"But usually, they don't live that long," Bird said.
These parakeets seem to have beaten the odds for several reasons: They
live in noisy flocks, which helps them stand guard against enemies who
would eat them, such as hawks, and they can tolerate a wide range of food.
"They're very opportunistic," Bird said. "They're omnivores, and can eat anything,
cedar tree seeds, fruit, things like that, apples."
Changing weather patterns and warmer temperatures in the region have
likely helped the tropical birds survive, Bird said..
"The climate is comfortable for them," Bird said. "Whether they could
have survived here 100 years ago when the climate was substantially
cooler, I don't know."
Certainly, they're not the only exotic bird escapees living wild in the
Northwest. Vancouver, Canada is home to some well-known Crested Mynahs.
Gayle Peters, the owner of Just Parrots, a shop near Seward Park, said
the feral parakeets are reasonably intelligent birds, which likely helps
them survive an alien environment.
"We don't have extreme temperatures here, extreme hot or cold," Peters
said. "In winters, they're probably in trees, nesting together. They do
adapt very well."
Birders in the area say that the parakeets will visit home bird feeders
from time to time.
"I would think in this area, they would eat anything and everything
they could find," Peters said.
(Agencies) |
它們尖叫著飛過公園，淺黃綠色的羽毛（在陽光下）閃爍。在佛羅里達、墨西哥和其他熱帶地區，沒有人會多看它們一眼。
但是在太平洋西北部鉛灰色的天空下，一群色彩絢麗的野生鸚鵡在蘇渥公園周圍盤旋。這座公園位于西雅圖東南部一個面積為300英畝的綠色島嶼上，這些鳥兒們在這里“安家落戶”。
勿庸置疑，它們不是“當地居民”。
“在這里，它們是另類。你本可以享受最寧靜、最安謐的清晨，可突然間它們又叫又鬧。”克里斯蒂娜·加萊戈斯說。她是西雅圖公園和娛樂部門的博物學家，她估計這群鳥有20到24只。
早在上世紀90年代初，這些鳥兒首次出現在蘇渥公園。它們被公認為是原產于中美洲的一種頭部呈深紅色的長尾小鸚鵡。這種頭部有著顯著的紅色斑紋的綠鸚鵡比人們熟悉的那種典型的寵物相思鸚鵡要大一些。
“在我們看來，這就是好玩而已。”愛鳥者佛瑞德·伯德說。他是華盛頓鳥類學會前任會長，專門研究這一小群長尾小鸚鵡。
這群鸚鵡通常把蘇渥公園當作自己的家，目前已知它們每年有一段時間會往北遷移5英里，遷往西雅圖的另一個公園。
伯德說，無庸置疑，這群鸚鵡原本是從主人那里逃出來的寵物鳥。在養寵物鳥的地方，這種“逃亡者”比較常見。
“但通常它們不會活那么久。”伯德說。
這些鸚鵡能夠奇跡般存活下來是有幾個原因的：它們在一起的時候總是吵吵鬧鬧的，這有助于它們對老鷹等天敵保持警惕；它們還能適應各種各樣的食物。
伯德說：“它們是十足的機會主義者。它們是雜食動物，什么都能吃，雪松子、水果、比如蘋果什么的。”
伯德認為，這一地區多變的天氣狀況和不斷上升的氣溫可能有利于這種熱帶鳥兒的生存。
他說：“這里的氣候對它們來說很舒適，我不知道如果在一百年前他們是否能在這里生存，當時的氣候比現在要冷得多。”
當然，它們并不是唯一生活在（美國）西北地區的外來鳥類的逃亡者。加拿大溫哥華是有名的帶冠毛八哥的棲居地。
蓋爾·彼得斯是蘇渥公園附近一家名叫Just
Parrots的商店的主人，他說這種野生的長尾小鸚鵡相當聰明，可能正是它們的智慧幫助它們在陌生的環境中生存下來。
彼得斯說：“我們這里的溫差變化不算大，既不會太熱也不會太冷。冬天的時候，它們很可能待在樹上，共同筑巢。它們確實很好地適應了這里的環境。”
這一帶的獵鳥者稱這些鸚鵡有時會“拜訪”養鳥人。
“我想在這個地方，這些鳥兒會吃掉它們能夠找到的任何食物，全部食物。”彼得斯說。
（中國日報網站譯） |
Updated: 2004-10-20 09:54