Jade's Page

People seem to be very confused about me. I'm called both a Monk Parakeet and a Quaker Parakeet. Then some others call me a Quaker Parrot. Dictonary.com defines parakeet as

par·a·keet n. Any of various small slender parrots, usually having long tapering tails and often kept as pets.

Well, I have a long tail, but I'm not sure about the slender. Think I'll just go with Quaker.

I live in Texas with 4 other birds. Sunny and Deli are Cockatiels and live in the cage next to mine. They're about the same length as me, but I'm a lot heftier. Sunny seems to be a bit afraid of me, but Deli is OK. Chilly and Con Queso are Budgies, they live upstairs in William's room.

There was another Budgie, Pepper, but he died before I came. Actually Pepper is why I'm here. Not only was he their first bird, it was while my mom looking for a Budgie to cheer up a mourning Chilly that she first met me.

I was hatched in August 2000 and was 3 months old when I came home. I loved to be held and cuddled and was happiest when I was sitting on someone. For the first week I lived in a home made cage of hardware wire over a small playpen. This was used to separate Sunny and Deli when he chewed on her neck too much.

But then I got my beautiful new black cage. The best part is my "boingy" which I love to stand on. It sits in the center of my cage so I can see everything from there. I've become more independent since then and am a very happy bird.

I started taking when I was seven months old. My first phrase was "Step Up" but I am rapidly adding more.

My Vocabulary

Step Up

Cookie

Good Boy

Good Bird

Pretty Bird

Jade

Samantha

William

Hello

Here Kitty Kitty

Come Here

Bye Bye

Love Me

uh oh

Ouch

Kisses

(kissing sound)

(laughs)

(Cough)

(sneeze)

(wolf whistle)

Us Quakers are a pretty hardy bunch. We've managed to establish feral populations in many places, including Chicago, Dallas, and Busch Gardens in Tampa Florida. Here's a picture of some Quakers out in front of the Clydesdale barn at Busch Gardens.

Feral Quaker's looking for food.

They nest in the palm trees like the one shown here. Busch Gardens doesn't take care of them, but they don't do anything to discourage them either. The only time they are bothered is when the gardeners trim the dead leaves off the trees. My mom saw a Quaker in it's nest outside the dolphin stadium, but didn't have her camera at the time.

They nest in the part that looks like a pinecone

Quaker's are the only parrots that make nests from sticks. This makes up pretty versatile at choosing nesting places. Unfortunately it also make some people paranoid that we're going to move in and take away space from other birds or damage all the crops. My Uncle in Florida says we kill the palm trees but that is the worst my mom has found described so far. Well, in the US anyway; in South America I understand that Quaker's are a real problem to the farmers. If you want to know more about feral Quakers, there's some good links below.

Feral Quakers don't make very good pets but I was hand raised by people and think I am a people. Quakers often bond to one person but my mom has worked hard to make sure I like everyone. My favorites are mom and William but I like dad too (Samantha is a different story). I usually only take a day or so to warm up to new people, I'm a bit shy at first. Once I'm ok with someone I will let them hold me and pet me, but if I'm scared or want my neck scratched, I want my mom.

I got to go to school with William one day for show and tell. I let all the kids touch me while I was cuddled on my mom's chest. Home sure did look good that day!