EH> Hee hee.......  I know, Fran. You're connected up to my good friend
 EH> Gary Crain.   
 EH> Yep! We had a BIG flock of mixed escapees, and genuine wild birds in
 EH> the McAllen area.
 EH> They seem to get migratory signals right after nesting is complete and
 EH> apparently zoom off to Mexico for a winter vacation. (Or to get shot
 EH> as grain thieves.)
 EH> Well, some are definitely escapees/releases.  I spotted a pair of what
 EH> could have either been "Yellowheads" or "Yellow Naped" (I was at a
 EH> considerable distance) and I 'think' I saw a "Yellow Cheek" once.
 EH> There was a pair of wild Yellow Cheeks that hung around our back yard
 EH> for a
 EH> while trading insults with OUR parrots.  I think it was a matter of
 EH> species recognition since our YC screamed obscenities at them every
 EH> time they dropped by.
 EH> Most of the big flock are either "Green Conures" (At least 60%) or
 EH> "Mexican Red Heads" (25-30%) Which are definitely native birds if not
 EH> all originally wild. Several smaller flocks exist, but I've not seen
 EH> them recently.
 EH> Yes, Brownsville has quite a wild parrot population as do several of
 EH> the small towns located along the Rio Grande.  These too are pretty
 EH> transient as well, but the Brownsville flocks are pretty well
 EH> established.  The old Fort Brown area has ALLWAYS had resident
 EH> parrots.
 EH> I'm located in McAllen. (Actually about equidistant from McAllen,
 EH> Mission, and Edinburg.)
Elvis,
Thanks for the information. There is a discussion on the Cites list
about the ferral parrots in our country. I had remembered you mention-
ing them before.
The opinion is that they are releases or escapees. Since your area is
where the quarentine station is, and also where they are held when
confiscated... both can happen.I can also believe, as you do,
that there are migratory flocks. This is what the Thick Bill use
to do.
Fran
--- PPoint 2.00
*********************************************************************
*             Birdsoft Poster Record for Area: PARROTS              *
*         Messages received by BirdSoft Online (1:135/907)          *
*               Sat, Oct 25, 1997 - Fri, Oct 31, 1997               *
*********************************************************************
     Posts                Name           Average Size      Address
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
   4                        Fran Warwick       768       1:382/92.5
   2                      Elvis Hargrove      2048       1:397/6
     Total = 6   by 2 authors.
---------------