White-winged Parakeet: 9/25/2022

I showed a friend, Carol, the Monk Parakeets (or Parrots) and their nest at Winthrop Beach this past Sunday (see my earlier post). They put on quite a show for Carol as the morning warmed up, and they started feeding on the ornamental apple trees at the playground. I was also looking at the birds in flight as ebird kept mentioning a solo White-winged Parakeet that was staying with the flock of Monks. It wasn't until I got home and looked at my pictures that I noticed one of the parakeets was a smaller, brighter green bird with an all green head, a yellow wing patch, and pinkish feet. A little research showed that I had gotten pictures of the White-winged Parakeet! The white part would be right where the wing is obscured by the branch in the picture and is really only visible clearly in flight. So exciting, but, perhaps sad too. The White-winged is probably a lost pet as they don't colonize like the Monk and are not likely to survive a winter here in Massachusetts unless they can stay in the stick nest. They are originally from the Amazon basin area of South America although some have been seen in warmer states like Florida and California. I posted both Monk and White-winged Parakeets in the post. Look for the gray head and chest for the Monk and the green head and yellow on the wing for the White-winged.