Customer Reviews

PARROTS IN THE CITY: One Bird's Struggle For a Place on the Planet

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I was thrilled when I first heard that Mattie Sue Athan, Jon-Mark Davey and Joann Davey were teaming up to write about wild Quakers. Jon-Mark and Joann are long time Quaker watchers and they run the Quakerville.com website. Mattie Sue Athan is a name more familiar to bird lovers, as she has written a series of wonderful books on parrot behavior and training. I could not wait for the book to be published.

I was not disappointed. The book contains a wealth of information - both scientific concepts and personal observations - that explain why Quaker Parrots will never descend in vast flocks to decimate American agriculture.

Some of the more interesting and persuasive sections are the sections explaining the concept of K-select species vs. R-select species and the information on how Quaker colonies fail. The larger ethical issue of how humans treat "inconvenient" wildlife is also examined. Should we exterminate animals that get in our way? What is the most dangerous invasive species? (The answer might surprise you.)

The book is essential reading for parrot lovers, bird lovers, power company workers, farmers and legislators (at local, state and federal levels).

I am not a bird owner, and my naivety with the subject meant I didn't even know what questions to ask about parrots before I read this book.

I found Parrots in the City to be a well-researched book about Quaker parrots, and was a great insight in to parrots.

This book gives an excellent, concise account of the history of parrots around the world, how they were reintroduced to the USA, and lists some accounts for specific states, as well as state-by-state restrictions. Internet discussion groups and their URLs are mentioned, and can be helpful for someone interested in the subject to link up with active parrot enthusiasts.

Particularly interesting was the urban life of the birds, and how their nest can affect utility power grids. I learned there are alternatives to exterminating birds. There was a section that listed words and phrases commonly used by parrots such as Gimme for food, gotta go to work when humans are dressed up and leaving, etc.

I can recommend it because the book covers how we got to Parrots in the City and most importantly, how to co exist with them.

I found Parrots in the City to be a well-researched document on the plight of the Quaker parrot, a bird from South America, which, according to the authors, is rapidly establishing itself in US cities without displacing any native fauna. Although I've never been particularly fond of this gray and green little bird, I found myself enamered with its ingenuity and perserverance in the face of human-caused adversity. Of particular interest is the parrot's propensity for building nests around power grids and the book's suggestions on how the two can and should develop a symbiotic relationship.
The book is interesting without being preachy. By the time I finished reading it, I was convinced it should be required reading for employees of power companies everywhere, as well as students of biology.

The book tells of the struggle of the Wild Quaker Parakeet to survive in the wild. Part of their problem is they build large colony nests on power grids. The electric company needs to take down the nests so lots of baby birds are lost. But thanks to some wonderful bird loving people like the Davey's and many Bird Clubs in Florida and Illinois and states that allow Quaker Parakeets, the baby birds are put in foster homes to be hand fed, because they cannot be turned loose in the wild again. The book "Parrots in the City" is an easy reading book and it only took me 5 hours to read. It reminded me of "The Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill" by Mark Bittner, because both stories are doing all they can to give wild parrots a chance to survive in the wild in the United States of America.

I received my copy and I'm impressed.

I heard about this book in its very first stages. I know how much work went into it: the interviews, the research, the refining and editing, to make it the best book it could be.

Parrots in the City is a book that finally addresses the idea of wild Quakers as they are, not as they are rumored to be. In a well-researched, well-thought out, well-documented book that goes into the history of the extinct Carolina Parakeet along side the flourishing wild Quaker (Monk) parrot, the authors confront the situation with thoughtful insight.

It tells a compelling story that should help the plight of wild Quakers, and wild parrots in general, if people just take the time to read it and understand what it has to say.

Quaker lovers should read it. Those who think Quakers are a problem
in the wild should read it, too. Mattie Sue, Jon-Mark and JoAnn Davey can all be very proud of their efforts

P{arrots in the city was both informitive and a really wonderful read. I have always had an interest in Monk parrots and this has certainly been an amazing eye opener. A truely wonderful book for anyone who loves parrots and maybe for those who should learn a little tolarance for this noble little creatures struggle to survive.

"Parrots in the City" addresses the issue of feral populations of Quaker parakeets in the US with the intention of promoting alternatives to the extermination of these parrot flocks where they pose a threat to agriculture or power lines. Flocks of Quakers, also called monk parakeets, are found in 15 US states, some of which have banned Quakers outright for fears of crop damage. Even non-agricultural states have some problems with the birds, as they are fond of nesting in power transmission towers, right next to transformers, where the nests may cause fires. Quakers don't, however, pose a threat to native bird species, unlike English sparrow and starling invaders, because they don't usurp nest sites from native birds.

This book is a collection of facts and opinions about Quakers, as pets and in feral flocks, that touches on many subjects but lacks coherence: the threat of extinction faced by wild parrots due to habitat loss, the concept of "pest" species, keeping Quakers as pets, online resources for Quaker owners, histories of feral Quaker populations in the US, alternative methods or reducing bird populations, and the authors question whether the transformer fires are actually caused by bird nests or lightning. A lot of topics but almost no data. There is no information about how much damage Quakers may do to crops or how many transformer fires they've been associated with.

Authors Jon-Mark and JoAnn Davey have a lot of experience with Quakers, and Mattie Sue Athan has authored books about parrots, but "Parrots in the City" isn't going to convince anyone to protect Quakers, because it is long on sentimentality and short on information. The authors suggest that feral Quaker populations may be a suitable replacement for the long-extinct Carolina Parakeet and may even end up being the only place Quakers survive in the wild. It sounds possible, but I would have liked the opinion of someone with knowledge of Quakers in their native habitat. And I was alarmed by the advocacy of breeding Quakers for color, i.e. domesticating them, which is the opposite of protecting them. "Parrots in the City" may be of interest to Quaker owners, but it is too cursory to be a study of the feral Quaker issue.

This is a nice story, I have 3 pet birds. I love reading about their struggles in and outside the home.