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Another once-in-a-lifetime [bird] experience.  Only in El Salvador (or someplace tropical).   This one was great, it happened early last week.  I was leaving the office, a bit later than normal, and decided to wait a few minutes more for our security guard, Virgilio, to finish his shift at 6pm, and give him a ride.  While I waited for him to put on his “civvies”, I had a few minutes to notice our environment – the sun was almost setting, and the birds chirping like crazy – “deciding where they’re going to sleep tonight” is what another security guard in the neighborhood said as he was walking past.  “So that’s what all the chatter is about,”  I said.

Rose-Ringed Parakeet (Psittacula krameri) Richmond Park, UK, naturalised population from cage birds that escaped into the wild. Photo by DAVID KJAER

 

I looked up to see where all the chirping was coming from, and wouldn’t you know it?  Right there in the tree in front of our office – a house in a fairly urban neighborhood off Boulevard [Bulevar] Los Proceres – was a group of 6 PARAKEETS.  All hanging out, getting ready for nighttime to come, before sunset.

WHERE in the WORLD do you get to see a group of 6 PARAKEETS, sitting in a TREE IN FRONT OF YOUR OFFICE?   People can say all they want about “El Salvador dangerous this“, and “Are you sure you want to live there, that“, but this BEATS THE PANTS off most of your office experiences, wouldn’t you say?

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My brother-in-law Gito brought back 3 baby parakeets to the house around mid-day.  He took them from their nest, which looks more like a mud-igloo if you’ve every seen it.   Many houses in El Salvador in the country and some in the city have a parakeet (called a “perico” in Spanish) as a pet.

Pericos are funny looking when born.  They have no feathers, and look bald, naked and a bit ugly.   When their feathers do come in at first they are grey, and later, green ones come in.

Parakeets in El Salvador live in nests which they rob from the insect world.  They take over the nest of the comején.which is a type of termite.  My husband says they call the nest a “tarchinohl”  (not sure of spelling and for the life of me I cannot find this Spanish word anywhere, so it’s either Nahuatl and we can’t spell it right or some local Indian word, but definitely where my husband is from that’s the phonetic name for the nest).

My niece and mother-in-law feed them with corn meal mixed with water.

In a bucket with a peat-moss type flooring, with a towel on top mimics the warmth of the nest.	born bald and naked their heads look the funniest	See green feathers sprouting. Younger parakeet still so young he looks naked.
Here Carmen feeds him corn meal with water	Parakeets in El Salvador take over termite nests to use as homes. Photo from JardinBotanicoMoyobamba.com	"hey, who stole my clothes!". Click for PBS page: Odyssey