How to seduce a wild parrot?

March 11, 2014 3:22 PM

A feral parrot (technically, a rose-ringed parakeet (Psittacula krameri), has started visiting the plumeria tree outside my front door this week. My housemate and I used to wish that some of the wild parrots that have been naturalized in Hawai`i would come and move into our yard. Now that one has, how do we seduce it to stay? We live in the city, so any regular bird feed would be devoured in seconds by doves and pigeons. We have a couple trees in the yard (pomegranate, palms, mango, plumeria, some Asian citrus thing), so there's nice habitat already.
posted by kanewai to Science & Nature (4 answers total)

I don't know if this is kosher, but I ended up feeding wild rainbow lorikeets some bread and honey every morning when I lived in Oz. They got pretty attached to it quickly. I didn't tell my wife, who left for work before the birds turned up. She wouldn't have known except for for the fact that they started to rap on the balcony window at weekends and demand feeding.
posted by MuffinMan at 3:48 PM on March 11, 2014 [4 favorites]

I would build a parrot-accessible platform (squirrel-proofed, if that might be an issue), and load it with roasted, unsalted peanuts (in the shell). Works for scrub jays, where I live.
posted by mudpuppie at 4:58 PM on March 11, 2014

I'm not sure what to offer for food but - please be careful what you wish for. Here in the NYC area, there are several large groups of parrots that while amazing, are a real hassle (mainly because of noise and huge nest building). I like to visit them, but when a few camped out in the tree across the street one summer not too long ago, I got a real taste of what people put up with daily... and you're not gonna have one single parrot, believe me, if it sticks around. Just something to consider.
posted by blaneyphoto at 5:20 PM on March 11, 2014 [2 favorites]

Our visiting parrots get sunflower seeds when they come along and show an interest, and the pigeons come and clean up after them. Different species of parrot have different behaviour and personalities, so your mileage may vary. We have about 6 species of parrot endemic to our neighbourhood. Only 2 are regular visitors, although we see most of them daily. One of the big ones turns up from time to time, but mostly not to eat, just to haslse one of the more regular visitors.
posted by singingfish at 7:06 PM on March 11, 2014