You mean like this: I love it! Just go with it, Mike. Seriously, though, I don't even have an open patch to put the fishes food in anymore. I wonder if there are fish in there still. Like gardnpondr, I never was able to get it growing until last year. Don't know what happened. Should be easy to pull out though.

Not sure if this is the same type but here is an article i found, i furst heard of this last year that they were nesting. We can have some cold winters but they survuve. The bird's squawk sounds like a cross between a chirp and the hee-haw screech of a rusty pump. Its bright green plumage clashes with the dignified church steeples and ivy-covered bricks of its Hyde Park neighborhood. For 22 years, feral monk parakeets have lived in this southern part of Chicago, draping their twiggy nests over tree branches, electrical poles, roof rafters, and satellite dishes. This raucous caucus of about 200 birds is the coldest, and perhaps the oldest, colony of monk parakeets in the United States. But should this species, introduced from South America, live wild in Illinois? The monk parakeet, also known as the Quaker or gray-headed parakeet or parrot, was imported for the pet trade during the late sixties and early seventies. From 1968 to 1972, for example, more than 64,000 were brought to the United States from their native Argentina, Paraguay, and Bolivia. Since enactment of the Wild Bird Conservation Act in 1992, however, it has been illegal to import wild members of the species. First seen locally at a Blue Island, Illinois, bird feeder in 1968, a pair of monks nested, hatched a few offspring, and disappeared in 1970. Three years later, a compound nest was discovered in Hinsdale. That same year, 1973, the Hyde Park colony got its start. The birds probably escaped from pet stores and residences, accord-ing to Stephen Pruett-Jones and other biologists at the University of Chicago who have studied the birds. The rumor that they escaped from a shipping crate at O'Hare has not been substantiated and was probably appropriated from New York, where an escape at Kennedy airport was documented in 1967. Some defenestrations may not have been accidental. Not everyone appreciates the birds' constant loud chatter, which consists of 11 kinds of shrill calls and whistles in addition to local sounds they imitate. About a foot in length, slightly larger than a cockatiel, the monk parakeet is a flamboyant, highly social bird. The monastic reference in its scientific name, Myiopsitta monachus, derives from the hood of green feathers that covers its head and neck, set off by a gray face and yellowish breast. The rest of the bird, whether male or female, is chartreuse green except for its orange beak and a fringe of blue feathers on its tail and wings. The Hyde Park colony has survived Chicago's nastiest weather, a significant feat since the bird originates in the temperate, dry lowlands of South America. This is the harshest climate the birds survive anywhere in the world, according to Pruett-Jones. They do exist further north, in Amsterdam and Paris, for example, and during the 1980s they bred in Montreal, but only in the Chicago area do they currently withstand windstorms and ice baths, rain, snow, hail, and temperatures far below zero. Some farmers and conservationists wonder whether a bird that can adapt from Argentina to Illinois may become as common as the starling, which increased from 120 individuals to 200 million in a century, and wreak havoc with American crops as well as local species. Monk parakeets have fed on fields of wheat and corn in South America and fruit orchards in Florida.

Well, the pair came by again today. They've found another delicacy in the yard, the seeds of a terribly invasive vine with gorgeous pink flowers. I have no idea what it is, I'm constantly pulling it, probably because birds eat the seeds and drop them in my yard. But watching the two of them in the very tippy top of the little oak, toppling over head-first to get to their seeds, was pretty cool. I'm still pulling that vine and the Virginia creeper in the cabbage palm next to it, but maybe I'll leave it for another week, just in case I get to see "my" pair of Amazons. Funny was watching them look down completely unconcerned at the hunter cat with the bell. He's small for a cat and they're big for birds and he sulked by, making it clear he knew he was outmatched and wasn't happy about it. He stalked off to the neighbor's yard to terrorize their cats, who haven't figured out he's declawed and fixed. They think he's one bad kitty because when they first tried to defend their food, the giant yellow lab barked at the commotion. They seem to have decided that my little guy has a bodyguard. We need to give our neighbors cat food for Christmas.

Thanks everyone! Bpathome- I think the architect wants the brick wall indented a little to create a little garden nook on the driveway side. But it is essentially what you are suggesting. I think vertical blinds are a great idea! I think that is what I will end up using. Pamgatten - thank you! :) Your little dog is adorable!!! Mrs. S- I dont think I will let the birds out in the aviary, although as the new plan is drawn, I might be able to. I was only going to keep them in their cages in this space, as they dont all get along. They are not flighted as I almost lost Rocky out the door once (she took off with a flock of doves and was almost out of sight when she flew back to me!). I also cover my parakeets - half of their cage is covered in an ugly ikea curtain to give them a place to get out of the sun. They have a five foot long cage and actually I forgot to include them in this! I think tallish plants will great for helping screen the sun. Here is the latest plan after speaking to the architect today. The round areas are planters he put in The right wall is all glass, the left wall is 6 foot of block with 2 foot of glass on top. He made room for my bikes, at the bottom.: I have some concerns: - Is the house getting too big and sprawling? It is now 3880 and will go to over 5100 sq. feet with the master addition and aviary. Houses in my neighborhood tend to be large, though, with two neighbors at 6-8000 sq. feet. - The bedroom that it connects to will be a laundry room area. It will connect to the butler's pantry which will connect to the kitchen. This laundry area will now have no windows. Is that okay? Home design (red is aviary addition):