Carolina Parakeet
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Gone but not Forgotten
The once abundant Carolina Parakeet was a gregarious bird. They would form large, noisy flocks that fed on cultivated fruits and grains. They would tear apart an apple to get to the seeds, wreck havoc in the grain fields, and strip a corncob of its kernels. Determined to protect their crops, farmers killed them in droves. It was no big deal. The pesky parakeets were plentiful. Some flocks even numbered in the thousands.
The Carolina Parakeet through the eyes of John James Audubon
Carolina Parakeet Audubon Print Framed & Matted
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John James Audubon recognized beauty and transfered it to canvas. Audubon's art gives us a glimpse of the past, a past that is beyond our reach.
The Carolina Parakeet was the only parrot native to North America found north of Mexico. It inhabited the deciduous forests of the Eastern Seaboard and the Gulf States. It could be found as far west as Nebraska and along the rivers crossing the Great Plains.
The Carolina Parakeet
Audubon's Masterpieces
Audubon's masterpieces: 150 prints from the Birds of America
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John James Audubon spent a lifetime documenting the behavior of, and drawing the birds of North America. Audubon's Masterpieces is a collection of 150 of his best works.
The farmer's wrath was one of many factors that lead to the demise of the Carolina Parakeet, but several other things factored in as well. Much like the woodpecker and the owl, the Carolina Parakeet were cavity nesters.
What actually caused the demise of the Carolina Parakeet is a mystery. The wrath of the farmers may have been a factor, as well as deforestation and loss of nesting sites. They were hunted for their beautiful feathers, but the decline was rapid. The aforementioned reasons would have lead to a gradual decline. The flocks noted in the late 1800's were healthy and reproducing.
The most likely cause of the bird's extinction appears to be disease. They were a gregarious bird. If one picked up a deadly disease, he would have passed it on. If this was the case, the fact that the Carolina Parakeet resided within the vicinity of human settlements proved to be its undoing.
Birder's Conservation Handbook
Birder's Conservation Handbook: 100 North American Birds at Risk
Amazon Price: $19.97 (as of 02/16/2012)![]()
Well's Birder's Conservation Handbook details the status of 100 of North America's rarest birds. It also details what needs to be done, and what is being done.
How many more will we lose?
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pheonix76
Apr 9, 2011 @ 3:21 pm | delete
- Thanks for the lensroll -- I have lensrolled this page to my extinct birds lens. Nice job! If we can inform enough people we can hopefully prevent the extinction of more birds.
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Evelyn_Saenz Dec 12, 2009 @ 5:35 am | delete
- I never realized that there was a native parakeet here in North America. Here in Florida we have ferral populations of green parakeets. I love to hear them calling as they fly overhead. How sad that the Carolina parakeet no longer exists.
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TylaMac
Nov 24, 2009 @ 12:18 am | delete
- How sad it is that a whole species is gone forever and that people did it on purpose. Bird conservation is not really that difficult. We shouldn't let it happen again.
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AndyPo
May 21, 2009 @ 9:54 am | delete
- Excellent lens. I love parakeets. We have thousands of them in the parks of West London and they are spreading across the country (offspring of escapees). Despite being from India they love the mild climate here in southern England. When it cools down in the evening hundreds of them fly past my window to roost in my garden. They aren't quite as pretty as the Carolina Parakeet.
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mukunda22
May 12, 2009 @ 6:44 pm | delete
- I am so sorry. This is a tragedy.
A great lens to focus the problem and have a solution evolve from it.
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About the Author
Bird Watcher's Digest
Bird Watchers Digest
Amazon Price: $16.99 (as of 02/16/2012)![]()
Keep current with what's happening in the birding world. Bird Watcher's Digest offers great articles and pictures, as well as information on conservation efforts and research. I receive several birding magazines each month but its Bird Watcher's that has me dropping everything to sit down and read.
6 issues/12 months
Resources used to construct this page.
Peterson, T.P. & Peterson, V.M. 2002. Birds of Eastern and Central North America, Fifth Edition. Houghton Mifflin Company, New York, N.Y.
The Extinct Carolina Parakeet
The Carolina Parrot
Birds Currently on the endangered list.
by ElizabethJeanAllen
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