Leonia power outage caused by Quaker parrots, PSE&G says

LEONIA — Nearly 500 customers were without power early Wednesday morning after a Quaker parrot nest caused a transformer to overheat, PSEG officials said.

The bright green birds, also known as monk parakeets, are a common sight along the Palisades, and their large, globular nests sometimes cause problems for the company when they build them on utility poles.

The outage happened around 3 a.m. and crews restored power by 4:30 a.m., said Anette Hicks, a spokeswoman for the utility.

“They removed the nest and the parakeet,” she said. She did not know if the bird survived the ordeal.

The Quaker parrots have been flourishing in Leonia, Fort Lee and Edgewater and in surrounding towns for decades, but PSEG obtains a permit twice a year to remove their nests from utility poles to prevent outages. Crews worked in March to remove nests from poles in the three towns.

This is the second such incident in recent months; a four-hour outage in December was also attributed to a monk parakeet nest.

Earlier: Edgewater parrot nests removed from utility poles along the Palisades

Leonia power outage caused by Quaker parrots, PSE&G says – Hunterdon County Democrat

LEONIA — Nearly 500 customers were without power early Wednesday morning after a Quaker parrot nest caused a transformer to overheat, PSEG officials said.

The bright green birds, also known as monk parakeets, are a common sight along the Palisades, and their large, globular nests sometimes cause problems for the company when they build them on utility poles.

The outage happened around 3 a.m. and crews restored power by 4:30 a.m., said Anette Hicks, a spokeswoman for the utility.

“They removed the nest and the parakeet,” she said. She did not know if the bird survived the ordeal.

The Quaker parrots have been flourishing in Leonia, Fort Lee and Edgewater and in surrounding towns for decades, but PSEG obtains a permit twice a year to remove their nests from utility poles to prevent outages. Crews worked in March to remove nests from poles in the three towns.

This is the second such incident in recent months; a four-hour outage in December was also attributed to a monk parakeet nest.

Earlier: Edgewater parrot nests removed from utility poles along the Palisades

Audiograph’s Sound of the Week: Parrots of Telegraph Hill

All week long we’ve been playing this sound, and asking you to guess what exactly it is and where exactly in the Bay Area we recorded it.

This auditory guessing game is part of our new project, Audiograph, a crowd-sourced collaborative radio project mapping the sonic signature of each of the Bay Area’s nine counties. By using the sounds of voices, nature, industry, and music, Audiograph tells the story of where you live, and the people who live there with you. Every Thursday, we reveal the origins of that week’s sound on Crosscurrents, and here in weekly blog posts.

KALW’s Leila Day brings us this week’s answer…

Ever since I moved to San Francisco, I’ve been told about the wild parrots of Telegraph Hill. Lots of people claim to have seen–and heard–them in their backyards, but they’re most famous for hanging around the gardens up by Coit tower, so I decided to spend a day here, trying to track them down.

I was once told by a native San Franciscan that it would sound like a thousand screaming babies flying toward me — And these birds…they don’t sound like that.

It’s even harder to find these birds because I can’t just offer them birdseed and have them land on my shoulder. That’s now illegal. We aren’t supposed to feed the wild parrots. Up ahead, on Telegraph Hill, I see a man working in a garden, near his house. His name is Julian Chatneuff.

Chatneuff points out that, “Whenever they wake up they fly through here, go somewhere in San Francisco, and come back about four or five o’clock. You’ll hear them before you see them, and then you’ll see them by the dozens.”

I take a seat on a step and look up into the trees. The green birds are hopping from branch to branch like little monkeys, drowning out the sounds of the cars below. Some people walk by and don’t even look up. 

Then I see a guy wearing a leather cowboy hat. He’s definitely looking up. His name is Chris Vardijan and he’s a tour guide who cuts through the garden on his way home. 

“Nobody knows exactly where they came from. People think they were escaped pets, but it started with a few and now there are hundreds living here wild.” Vardijan adds, “They just go where they decide to, you know the city’s not that big, just seven miles by seven miles. So, they’ll go just about anywhere, where there’s nice places to roost and hang out.”

Though the quest to find these little green creatures wasn’t as difficult as I was anticipating, it still made San Francisco feel a little bit more wild.

Congratulations to this week’s winner, Edison Andrade. We’ll have a new sound for you to guess and another chance to win on Saturday. 

In the meantime, is there a sound from your life that should be featured on Audiograph? Call at 415-264-7106 and tell us about the sound of where you live.

Check out our Facebook, Twitter and Soundcloud pages to hear more from Audiograph.

The problem of having parrots

The
problem of having parrots

By
John Derby
April
18, 2013

As
long as we can remember, the family who took care of the
maintenance in our beach community owned a pair of parrots.
These were the typical noisy, chattering parrots which would
whistle when you passed, and talk to you in both Spanish
and English.
They
were completely domesticated, and wouldn’t know how
to survive in the wild. We weren’t sure they could
even fly.

However,
on a beautiful day last week, they, the PROFEPA (Mexico’s
equivalent to the Environmental Protection Agency), showed
up in the beach community and drove by the parrot cage outside
the house of the park managers house.

They
followed with questions about who the parrots belonged to,
and then they wanted to see legal documentation that the
owners had purchased the parrots from a legitimate source.
Of course, the owners had no such papers; these parrots
had been a part of the family for almost 20 years.

This
didn’t matter. The PROFEPA said unless they had proof
that the parrots were legal, they would be returning the
following day to take them to La Paz, where they would be
kept in quarantine for a week to give the family time to
fine such papers.

Without
the paperwork, the birds would be put to death.

The
family was distraught. These birds had become part of the
family. Each year they had sheltered the birds in bad weather
and fed them, and even took care of their medical needs
as such.

Our
resident Ornithologist was called to assist, and he informed
the PROFEPA that the birds were obviously domesticated,
and that if they had any diseases, they would have been
obvious. Besides the birds never left the cage.

All
that didn’t seem to matter to the PROFEPA who were
intent on following the letter of the law. The law stated
all parrots needed to have legal documentation. These people
were very serious.

We
recall years before, our brother had an interesting situation
happen to him when he drove across the Mexican border with
his pet parrot in a cage; and he had documentation — he
had purchased the bird from a pet shop in the United States.

While he was in Mexico the bird died. Since it was a very
expensive cage, he didn’t throw it away, but came
back into the United States with an empty bird cage. The
border guards saw the empty cage in his car and asked where
the bird was?

“I
haven’t got any bird,” he told them. “It
died and I kept the cage!”

This didn’t seem to satisfy the border guard, and
he was kept waiting at the border crossing for almost a
half an hour while they searched his car from bumper to
head lights, and still felt my brother was nuts having an
empty bird cage, but no bird.

The PROFEPA were just as serious and with good reason because
it only takes one bird to bring in avian disease which could
kill an entire chicken industry.

So
the PROFEPA showed up at the door the next day, and the
family thought they would lose their parrots. They pleaded
with the officials and finally the PROFEPA softened just
a little.

They still wanted the documentation on the parrots, but
they would allow the family to keep the birds “under
house arrest” for the next six months while they had
an opportunity to fine the documentation.

“House
Arrest!” What did that mean? Well as near as we could
tell, the birds could not leave the cage under any circumstances
for the next six months for the family would be fined and
the birds would be taken away.

30 Rescued Parrots Need New Home

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The Kent County SPCA is looking for homes for some of the 30 parrots that were seized from a Georgetown residence.
 
Spokeswoman Elizabeth Butts says the birds were seized over the weekend from an owner who could no longer take care of them.

 
Butts says the large birds include Macaws, African Greys and Amazons. She says they were found living in cages too small for them.
 
Five birds are ready for adoption. Butts warned, however, that large parrots can live for 80 years, so caring for one is a long-term commitment.
 
The SPCA is also seeking donations for specialty feed and toys for the birds.
 

Copyright Associated Press

More Than 100 Flock to KCSPCA for Parrots

CAMDEN, Del. (WBOC) – Parrots sent people flying into the Kent County SPCA looking to adopt Friday.

The shelter took possession of 30 parrots from a home in Georgetown late last week. Word of that spread. And Friday morning officials showed up at work to find potential adopters waiting outside.     

The shelter started with two African grays, eight amazons and 20 macaws. After Friday’s outpouring of interest, 21 birds have been adopted or transferred.

When Mariam Moore heard about all the parrots at the KCSPCA she had to see for herself.

“I was amazed by how many Macaws there were in one place,” said Mariam Moore, of Wyoming. “You usually see one or two. They’re very expensive.”

“I just wanted to come and see them and maybe adopt another one,” said Alfredo Serrano, of Dover.

“I’m trying to talk my husband,” Toni Gray, from Magnolia, said. “Into adopting another one so it will have a good home.”

People crowded into a small room to look at the birds and start determining if one might be for them. Kevin Usilton, executive director of the KCSPCA, wasn’t expecting this kind of turnout. He says more than 100 people showed up throughout the day, and the phone was ringing non-stop.

“We were surprised, because macaws and amazons can be challenging to own as pets,” Usilton said.

He says the situation was unique because the woman who had these birds was a breeder, who realized she couldn’t handle them anymore, and voluntarily gave them to the shelter.

“Most of the time when the SPCA is involved with a large number of animals it’s a hoarding case or a cruelty case,” he said. “These animals were able to be processed very quickly and put up for adoption.”

Some of the birds aren’t ready for adoption yet. They’ll need more socialization before that can happen. And exactly how long that takes will vary bird to bird. In the meantime, people are weighing their options on the birds that are ready.

“I don’t have the dedication for taking care of a macaw, so I’m looking at the amazons,” Moore said. “I’ll be going home and making a decision. It’s a big decision. They’ll be with you for decades.”

That decades comment is very accurate. Some parrots can live as long as a human does. And they can be very expensive to take care, especially over that many years.

The shelter is carefully screening possible adopters. Usilton says not everyone is a good fit to own a bird. But he encourages anyone who might be interested and thinks they can handle it to come take a look.

Burma’s ‘The Birds’: Flocks of Parrots Terrorize Catapult-wielding Sunflower …

Organized gangs of local parrots in Pegu Division are leading sunflower farmers to despair. In Toungoo Township, farmers are arming themselves with catapults against the birds, which are attacking their crops and eating all the seeds. “These parrots have come in flocks since the previous month and we are always guarding our plantations with catapults,” one of the farmers told state media. It appears the pilfering parrots may have a coordinated plan of attack, sending out scouting parties. “Only one or two parrots come in the morning and afternoon. But they come in flocks in the evening,” he said.

Del. agency looking for homes for seized parrots

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CAMDEN — The Kent County SPCA is looking for homes for some of the 30 parrots that were seized from a Georgetown residence.

Spokeswoman Elizabeth Butts says the birds were seized over the weekend from an owner who could no longer take care of them.

Butts says the large birds include Macaws, African Greys and Amazons. She says they were found living in cages too small for them.

Five birds are ready for adoption. Butts warned, however, that large parrots can live for 80 years, so caring for one is a long-term commitment.

The SPCA is also seeking donations for specialty feed and toys for the birds.

Kent SPCA takes in 30 parrots in need of homes

DOVER — The Kent County SPCA is asking the public for assistance in taking care of 30 large, exotic parrots that have recently been given to the shelter.

The parrots — a mix of Macaws, African Greys and Amazons — came from a residence in Georgetown.

Beth Butts, KCSPCA public relation coordinator, said this is not a case of hoarding, but a situation where the individual taking care of them could no longer provide the needed care and attention.

Ms. Butts said some of the birds have started plucking their feathers because of stress and some have scissor beaks, which is caused when the beaks are left untrimmed, making it difficult to eat. Officials said some birds were living in small cages, sometimes two to a cage.

The shelter is in a situation where it’s doing the best it can to provide the proper housing, but those resources are limited.

Ms. Butts said right now three or four of the birds are in a spare cat playroom, 15 are in the old dispatch location and the remainder are in one of the garage bays of the organization’s warehouse.

“We’re doing the very best we can to get on top of this,” she said, adding that these birds need a significant amount of space to feel comfortable.

Ms. Butts said Macaws are needy pets that require constant stimulation through toys.

“Imagine a 2 year old. Now imagine a 2 year old with no stimulation and that’s what we have,” she said. “They need that interaction.”

While the shelter is taking its time processing each bird to ensure their health, some of them are up for adoption.

Ms. Butts is looking for people experienced in taking care of birds who are willing to adopt. She warned that adopting a large parrot is a life-long commitment because many of these birds will live to be 80 years old or more.

Individuals interested in adopting a bird can visit the shelter to meet them in person.

If adoption is not an option, the shelter is also asking for monetary donations or large parrot-specific supplies.

Ms. Butts said there are questions about what type of food to buy (the birds eat a pelleted diet, not seeded), employees at area pet food stores will be able to assist in making sure the right kind is purchased.

The KCSPCA is at 32 Shelter Circle in Camden, DE 19934.

Donations are accepted online through Paypal at www.kcspca.org. All donations to the shelter are tax deductible.

For more information call the KCSPCA at 698-3006, using option two on the main menu.

Staff writer Chris Flood can be reached at 741-8230 or cflood@newszap.com.

Elderly parrots have a special place to stay at Errington refuge

Elderly parrots now have a place to live out their sunset years.

The World Parrot Refuge in Errington has opened a geriatric centre for aging parrots.

Some parrot species can live up to 100 years, outliving their owners. Aging birds can become frail, blind and suffer ill health.

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Centre owner Wendy Huntbatch decided to make a special wing for them. The refuge spent $40,000 to convert an old school portable for the purpose.

Of the 900 parrots the facility has adopted from people who can no longer care for them, 14 elderly birds were moved into the new facility early this week. Some, which are blind, need time to adjust to their new home.

“By the time we’re finished I think we’ll be moving altogether 29 birds,” Huntbatch said.

In old age they can become arthritic, cancerous, even epileptic. “It’s no different than people. We’re getting such a collection of them.”

They become frail and do better separated them from younger, more boisterous and active parrots.

“We spent all our money doing it,” Huntbatch said.

The refuge draws about 10,000 visitors a year.

DBellaart@nanaimodailynews.com 250-729-4235

© The Daily News (Nanaimo) 2013