It was probably about 10 years ago that I first noticed parakeets roaming the skies of New Orleans. I was driving Uptown, around the intersection of Claiborne and Napoleon Avenues, and there they were, flitting across the neutral ground in small, family-sized flocks.
Today, I can’t step outside my house deep in the Marigny without seeing half a dozen of the garish little things. They’re everywhere. And even if I don’t see them, I can hear their brittle trills. I mean, yeah, they’re better than the crows that used to inhabit my backyard, but still: what’s the deal?
Am I the only person who’s noticed this? Or is this happening around the city? Has global warming put New Orleans firmly in the “tropical” category as far as birds are concerned? Or did the Wildlife and Fisheries folk release beaucoup budgies to kill off the city’s crows? Or was it simply a case of yet another traveling aviary overturning on the tracks behind the Superdome?
Just wondering, that’s all. Otherwise, it’s a pretty damn dull day….
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