Mitred Parakeet

Got another lifer today, without leaving Sandpipers. I got to thinking about exotic birds we’ve seen but couldn’t count because they weren’t listed in our birding program.

We’ve seen Great White Herons in the Keys. They’re white morphs of the Great Blue Heron. Mitred parakeets in Miami, they’re escapees that may have established breeding populations. It’s hard to tell with parrots because they live so long a few escapees can look like a breeding colony for fifty years, then die out. Wild Peafowl outside the Everglades. Maybe escapees, maybe an established population. Junglefowl in Key West. They’ve been there for years, but haven’t been studied and recognized as an independent population. Peach–faced Lovebirds in Mesa, Arizona. They look well established, but there is that problem with parrots again. They live so long.

Well, guess what…. Now we’re working with eBird, a different birding program. eBird lets us count the Mitred Parakeet. Another Life Bird!