Monk (Quaker) parakeets eat legumes, grains, seeds (safflower, sunflower), leaf buds, fruits, berries, nuts, blossoms, and insects.

Often Monk parakeets live near the coast. The moderate temperatures of coastal areas may be a factor.

They usually leave their nest in small foraging parties of 2-14 soon after sunrise. Sometimes they graze on lawns eating blades of grass or dandelion stalks. Probably, with the grass stalks they are also ingesting grass seeds and small insects.

Monk Parakeets are often seen sitting in the tops of trees eating leaf buds or fruit. They are partial to the leaf buds from birch, ash, and maple, as well as wild cherries, crabapples, pears, apples and mulberries.

What has made the parrots particularly noticeable over the past few years is their increasing presence at bird feeders especially where sunflower and safflower seeds are offered.

Where do Monk Parakeets come from? There is much mystery surrounding the appearance of these beautiful parrots, but it can safely be said that they did not fly up here from Argentina on their own.

The theory that has the greatest credence among ornithologists is that a shipment of parrots destined for sale at New York area pet shops was accidentally released at Kennedy Airport in the late 1960's (1967 or 1968). This incident was referred to as early as 1971 in an article by ornithologist John Bull.

But, much confusion remains about what actually happened at the airport. At least one source in Brooklyn has informed me that many shipments coming into the airport were opened by unauthorized people during the 1960's.

More than 60,000 wild parrots of this type (Myiopsitta Monachus) were shipped from South America to the U.S.A. during the 1960s and early 1970s. Why so many? Well, the Argentinians had just spent 10 years trying to wipe these parrots out. In fact, a government-sponsored program managed to kill more than 400,000 of them in the late 1950s and early 1960s. But in the mid 1960's, someone had a bright idea: instead of killing them, why not ship them to the U.S.A. and make a few extra dollars? And so did the great influx begin - as a mass deportation of parrots to our shores.

After the escaped birds established themselves at Brooklyn College, they soon began expanding their domain. Today, Monk (or Quaker) parakeets comprise the largest group of the nine species of parrots known to live in the wild in the United States. But their success in establishing an ecological niche for themselves didn't come easily. For this reason, they are often referred to as "the world's most persecuted parrot."