2023 July Bird

The featured bird for July 2023 is the Nanday Conure aka Black-Hooded Parakeet or Nanday Parakeet.

Let’s get the most important question out of the way: Are parakeets parrots or not? Yes, parakeets and conures are parrots. Parakeets are smaller, seed-eating parrots with long, tapering tails.

Nanday Parakeets are mostly green with a black face and beak, red feathers on their legs, and blue and black feathers as part of their longish tail.

Family: Psittacidae
Species: Aratinga nenday
Length: 27–30 cm (11–12 in)
Weight: 140 g (4.9 oz)

The Nanday Parakeet is originally from the Pantanal in South America, a centrally located region spreading into Bolivia, Brazil, Paraguay, and Argentina. The theory goes that in the USA, Nanday Parakeets escaped from their cages, met up, and multiplied. Today there are feral, self-sustaining roosts in Los Angeles, San Antonio (Texas), and various areas in Florida, including all the counties around Tampa Bay.

Nanday Conures eat seeds, fruits and (as I’ve seen in my own backyard) flowers! The feral birds here in Florida come to bird feeders. I have the pleasure of watching them from the window by my desk pretty much every day. Because of their loud screeching, I’m not sure if hearing them is truly a pleasure.

The featured Nanday I photographed one block from my home in Historic Kenwood. The hole next to the bird is its nesting hole in an old palm tree with many such holes.