The predominantly green parrots, the population of which has varied from a reported one to 12, has been at work over the years enlarging what is now a sizable nest of sticks that looks like a big clump of flotsam with a hole burrowed in it.
Numerous bird–related Web sites list the monk parakeet as the only bird in the parrot family that builds stick nests. Often those nests are located on power poles and have multiple living chambers.
The Temple parrots’ nest is nestled in a capacitor bank at the top of a pole in front of the CEFCO Canyon Creek Convenience Store and Car Wash, located at 3805 S. 31st St.
Sue Haas, a cashier at the store, said the parrots have been there nearly as long as she has - 11 years.
“Sometimes there have been 12 up there at a time,” she said. “But lately I’ve seen about three or four at a time.”
She said, though, that all she knows about how they got there in the first place is what she has heard.
“I was told someone was hauling parrots down the interstate (Interstate 35). Somehow or another a cage came off and they made nests out here,” she said, adding that sometimes the birds fly across the street and visit the trees around the 7-Eleven Store at 31st and Marlandwood Road.
Ms. Haas said that in the summer the birds tend to come out either early in the morning or in the evening as the day begins to cool down.
“Most of them just sit out on the nests or the power lines,” she said. “I heard the power company was going to tear the nest down because of where the nest is. I know they were looking at it.”
John Toone, Oncor area manager in Temple, said Oncor does not have immediate plans to purge the parrots, but the company is caught in the middle between residents who want to protect the birds, and those who believe they are causing a flap.
“We’ve dealt with those (birds) for years,” he said. “They’ve just been a constant thorn in our side. Some people like the parrots. We like parrots. But they’re not compatible with supplying reliable electricity.”
He said the potential for interruption of power because of the nest is an ongoing concern to the company.
“They bring big, huge sticks - they don’t bring little twigs and grass,” he said. “They build a spectacular–sized nest.”
He said an electrical arc could set the nest on fire, which could result in interruption of power.
“They are right up there next to the high–voltage wires (12,000 volts) so if something gets going up there it can create a big, huge, electric arc and that can set anything on fire that’s up there,” he said.
He added, though, that the company is monitoring the nest in the event that it becomes a problem.
“Basically we just try to not disturb them as best we can, unless something happens and we have to, or it gets dangerous,” he said.
Toone said he is also unsure of the birds’ origins.
“You know, I’ve heard a lot of stories over the years since I’ve been here, but I don’t know if any of them are true,” he said. “I heard people had them as pets and they got away and started breeding in the wild - and now we got them.”
He said the company is aware of only one other area in town - a neighborhood just west of the 57th Street and Thornton Lane intersection - where residents have reported exotic bird nests, although there have been no reports in recent years from that area.
Walter Hetzel, animal services director for the city of Temple, said the birds have been on the pole in front of CEFCO for years now, but the story he had heard of their origin in town is different.
“The story was, there was a pet store somewhere out there in the area that was going out of business and trying to sell off all its pets including parrots,” he said. “They couldn’t find anything to do with them so they just let them go. It was a breeding pair, apparently.
“But, I don’t know what the life span of those birds are. I don’t know if we’re looking at the next generations, or if we’re just looking at ‘hundred–year–old parrots.’ ”
Toone said that in the Dallas area TXU began putting up artificial nesting platforms in 2006 to lure the birds away from the power poles.
In Connecticut, parrots were subjected to lethal evictions from the Connecticut United Illuminating Company until animal rights groups and others got their feathers ruffled over the practice and protested in 2005.
The birds are native to southern South America - including Central Bolivia and Southern Brazil to Central Argentina.
Hetzel, who said the shelter periodically gets calls about the birds, said that unless the parrots create a problem it is better for everyone if they are simply left alone.
“We frequently get calls that they are there, like we have some kind of magic wand and can bring them down from the power lines, but we don’t,” he said. “And they’re not hurting anything. As long as they’re happy, we’re happy.”
rstinson@temple-telegram.com
