HELLO ALL, THE QUAKERS IN EDGEWATERS BILL PASSED. THAT WAS THE 1ST STEP. THEY WON'T BECOME LEGAL BUT IF IT BECOMES LAW WHICH WILL TAKE A FEW MORE STEPS THEY WILL GO TO SANCUTUARY INSTEAD OF BEING EUTHANIZED. AMERICA SUCCEEDED IN WIPING OUT THE CAROLINA PARAKEET WHICH WAS A SMALL PARROT A LITTLE BIGGER THAN THE QUAKER AND RANGED FROM FL. TO NY. AND OUT MIDWEST TO MICHIGAN. BACK TO THE QUAKERS. THEY ARE A SMART LITTLE BIRD, THEY MAKE A COMMUNITY NEST AND LIVE IN IT YEAR ROUND UNLIKE ANY OTHER PARROTS KNOWN. THEY HAVE A 2 CHAMBER NEST THE REAR CHAMBER FOR THE BABIES AND THE FRONT CHAMBER FOR THE TEENS. THIS IS HOW THEY SURVIVE THE WINTER BY KEEPING THE FAMILY TOGETHER FOR BODY HEAT. THE SMART ONES BUILD THEIR COMMUNITY NEST BY THE ELECTRICAL TRANSFORMERS ON THE POWER POLES. THAT WHY THEIR NESTS ARE DESTROYED IN THE MIDDLE OF WINTER. HOPING THAT THE BIRDS WILL FREEZE TO DEATH AND BE LESS OF A NUISANCE IN THE FUTURE. THEN THE SPRING BRINGS ANOTHER NEST TEARDOWN WITH YOUNG IN THE NEST. IF THE BILL PASSES THEY WILL GO TO SANCUTARY. THEY DO NOT DESTROY CROPS OR COMPETE FOR FOOD FROM THE WILD AS ONCE THOUGHT BY THE STATE. THEY SURVIVE FROM THE BACK YARD FEEDERS. GO SEE THEM AT THE CORNER OF RIVER RD. AND ROUTE 5 IN EDGEWATER NJ JUST LOOK UP IN THE TREES IN THE PARK AND GET SOME ITALIAN PASTRIES OR PIZZA ACROSS THE STREET FROM THE PARK. THEY HAVE BEEN THEIR FOR THE LAST 30 YRS. AND HAVE EXPLODED IN POPULATION AS ONCE PREDICTED. THANK TO ALL WHO SIGNED AND HAVE A GREAT GROWING SEASON. NJSTEVE_ZONE_SIX

sorry for the double post but please help by signing nj

Quaker parakeet and monk parakeet are names for the same bird. They are common in Miami and I had them in my garden when I lived there. I have to admit that I enjoyed them but I worry about the longterm effects of any exotic species. We taxpayers spend millions of dollars on the control of exotic pest plants and animals every year.

And starlings are beautiful, too, along with pigeons and English sparrows. Who should care about native species and ecosystems when foreign "beauties" can provide us with all sorts of things to concern ourselves about. Playing God with ecosystems can be real fun.(God didn't put South American parrots in North American.) Look what the Norway rat has done for urban life in North America. And who could forget the cockroach. If the only consideration for the conservation of a species is its "beauty," we are in great trouble from alien species. You ought to see the beauty of a thousand acres of Great Lakes (or other) wetlands covered with purple loosestrife, a stunningly beautiful foreign plant that overtakes everything in a marsh. Shall beauty be the criterion for existance? Or, should it be ecological authenticity and native origin?