moni Posted June 7, 2007 Share Posted June 7, 2007 OK, something really silly....Dallas has some wild parrots, most probably someone turned a pair loose and voila! San Francisco has over 100 wild parrots, all started with one pair. Orlando has monkeys that were brought in for a movie shoot and never left. Miami and all parts south in Florida have wild parrots, I have a friend who always has "trees full of parrots". Houston could start some kind of exotic trend here, maybe?? Or...have you seen parrots flying about in Houston???? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest danax Posted June 7, 2007 Share Posted June 7, 2007 OK, something really silly....Dallas has some wild parrots, most probably someone turned a pair loose and voila! San Francisco has over 100 wild parrots, all started with one pair. Orlando has monkeys that were brought in for a movie shoot and never left. Miami and all parts south in Florida have wild parrots, I have a friend who always has "trees full of parrots". Houston could start some kind of exotic trend here, maybe?? Or...have you seen parrots flying about in Houston????We have many populations of Monk Parakeets (we have a thread here somewhere too). There are some near Brays Bayou and South Loop and I've seen a flock many times on the East End in Mason Park and, probably the same flock, in a Canary Island Date Palm on Sherman St. in the same general area. These are probably the same birds in the other cities you mentioned. They're about a foot long, green, and supposedly originally escaped from a crate at JFK airport in the late 60s (had to make Woodstock, no doubt).I hear they're charming until they nest near your bedroom........they never shut up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Subdude Posted June 7, 2007 Share Posted June 7, 2007 I say bats. There is already a huge colony under the Waugh bridge, but all the bayous would be great breeding grounds with little effort. And bats are good to have around, since they eat bugs. Plus, they're kind of cool. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lockmat Posted June 7, 2007 Share Posted June 7, 2007 I know Thailand people to monkey ratio is about 2:1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark F. Barnes Posted June 7, 2007 Share Posted June 7, 2007 I know there were Monkeys in Herman Park at one time. The exotic bird market crashed in '95-'96 there were all kinds just turned loose. The Sam Houston National Forest has an abundance of Emu's running loose in the wild. Wouldn't be surprised at all to see various other breed in the Houston area, the climate is fairly great for them. Hot and humid. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vertigo58 Posted June 7, 2007 Share Posted June 7, 2007 Parrots with exotic colors would be great. People in the big city are the ones that arent tamed, they would start shooting, capturing and selling until they vanished. As far as monkeys running around the very idea is a scream! People would eat the brains like in that country where its considered a delicacy. Can't you just see the menu at a fancy hotel? Monkey brain a la mode? Give you a bib and you tear away at it on a 1st date. What an impression that would leave. Pure monkey business. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pumapayam Posted June 7, 2007 Share Posted June 7, 2007 I say bats.There is already a huge colony under the Waugh bridge, but all the bayous would be great breeding grounds with little effort. And bats are good to have around, since they eat bugs. Plus, they're kind of cool. I like the fact we have less mosquitos because of them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
moni Posted June 7, 2007 Author Share Posted June 7, 2007 Vertigo, you are even sillier than me! BTW, the parrot couple turned loose in San Francisco were pets of a private individual. They live in one particular part of the city near Russian Hill but the flock keeps growing. The Monkeys in Orlando are decendants of the ones in the movie "African Queen". I am glad to hear about the parrots in Houston, cool! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TJones Posted June 7, 2007 Share Posted June 7, 2007 I say bats.There is already a huge colony under the Waugh bridge, but all the bayous would be great breeding grounds with little effort. And bats are good to have around, since they eat bugs. Plus, they're kind of cool. Yep, nothin' like a good ol' case of rabies and some mosquito eatin' to start off your summer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Poppahop Posted June 8, 2007 Share Posted June 8, 2007 The Brays Bayou parakeets nest about two hundred yards from my house, in the power lines that run parallel to the Union Pacific tracks just south of Bellaire Blvd. One tower has about four huge nests on it, each of which is home to 5-10 of the birdsThey come in our yard every day. Yes, they are very noisy, but not quite as annoying as blue jays. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vertigo58 Posted June 8, 2007 Share Posted June 8, 2007 We could always have them make beer runs for us as well as ATM machine, Starbucks etc. HOV Lane? Yes! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Subdude Posted June 8, 2007 Share Posted June 8, 2007 Yep, nothin' like a good ol' case of rabies and some mosquito eatin' to start off your summer. Ok, well there is that rabies thing. But it's not that common! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gnu Posted June 8, 2007 Share Posted June 8, 2007 Everyone should rent the movie about one of the SF parrot flocks: The Wild Parrots of Telegraph HillIt is more entertaining that you might suspect and is very interesting, enlightening, and somewhat sad. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
moni Posted June 8, 2007 Author Share Posted June 8, 2007 The Brays Bayou parakeets nest about two hundred yards from my house, in the power lines that run parallel to the Union Pacific tracks just south of Bellaire Blvd. One tower has about four huge nests on it, each of which is home to 5-10 of the birdsThey come in our yard every day. Yes, they are very noisy, but not quite as annoying as blue jays.This is very interesting and, I guess you could write a book and/or make a movie about them, haha. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Original Timmy Chan's Posted June 8, 2007 Share Posted June 8, 2007 I had a friend in Garden Villas about 14 years ago, and there was a flock of peacocks roaming his street. He was on Alpine, right next to Sims Bayou. I believe the house was demolished after the 1994 floods. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pumapayam Posted June 8, 2007 Share Posted June 8, 2007 He had peacocks in White Wing and Rancho Bauer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Poppahop Posted June 10, 2007 Share Posted June 10, 2007 AS a kid I lived on Insititute Lane, which is a block east of Mandell on Bissonnet. It's half of a two-block 1920s subdivision called Jandor Gardens. Anyway, peacocks used to roam around there in the early and mid-70s.A few years ago I spotted a guinea hen foraging around on Taft Street near that gated old community with all the mansions...Can't think of the name of it right now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ricco67 Posted June 10, 2007 Share Posted June 10, 2007 Well, it came to me as a complete surprise (which can be seen HERE!) one day, but I haven't seen one since. It should be interesting to see how the parrots do over the next few years. Hopefully they'll overtake and chase off those damn grackles! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KimberlySayWhat Posted June 10, 2007 Share Posted June 10, 2007 Thanks to reading this thread, I had a dream last night about wild poodles. In the dream I was going to take one home and name it Jadoo. You know, I think wild monkeys would be so cool. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ricco67 Posted June 10, 2007 Share Posted June 10, 2007 I'd think you might change your mind on that as soon as they start raiding your trashcans and homes. That's the problem a friend of mine discovered when he went somewhere where they HAVE wild monkeys. it just about drove him mad and he only stayed there for a couple of days!gimme the parrots. I just hope they don't trash too much of the infrastructure (i.e. Power lines). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
westguy Posted June 10, 2007 Share Posted June 10, 2007 (edited) He had peacocks in White Wing and Rancho Bauer.There's probably about 80-100 peacocks living near Buffalo Bayou from aroudn Kirkwood to Gessner. They're as big as turkeys and they live in the trees. This is the same population. I don't want to mention which cul-de-sac, but there are some birds hanging out there all day. Edited June 10, 2007 by westguy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ricco67 Posted June 10, 2007 Share Posted June 10, 2007 a LITTLE off topic, one time i was at a ranch in which there were a bunch of turkey's running around. Turns out the owner of the ranch released a 6 or so a few years earlier and they were now running all over the area. He asked people in the area not to hunt them until they had a few hundred. go fig. I just thought that was strange and I sometimes wonder what happens to the odd parakeets that escape their owner's cages. I saw one a few days ago near a building I was at. I figure they'd eventually become food for someone higher up in the food chain. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Poppahop Posted June 10, 2007 Share Posted June 10, 2007 Hawks do eat the parakeets here, but I've yet to see a cat catch one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
westguy Posted June 10, 2007 Share Posted June 10, 2007 Houston has some really big non-native bird species running around. The ones I'd most like to see are emus. It would be interesting to see them strolling down Westheimer. I know they've run free in Australian cities and I think they'd do well here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vertigo58 Posted June 11, 2007 Share Posted June 11, 2007 Thanks to reading this thread, I had a dream last night about wild poodles. In the dream I was going to take one home and name it Jadoo. Sorry guys but I have to temp hijack the thread as the above is so hilarious. There needs to be a new topic created for most bizarre dreams. One day we all sat around and asked friends and neighbors what really stands out as peculiar or funny dream they had. There was a pal's mom that said she dreamt she was being slapped over and over again by a horses tail. Another one said she was running down hill in terror while looking back there was a huge snake chasing her shaped in a circle. Ok back to monkeys, etc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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