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As the legend goes, the feral parrots often seen in Brooklyn and Queens came here from South America, breaking free into the boroughs from some crates at JFK airport some 20 years ago. While they may make for nice photos, the parrots are causing some chaos in Queens. Earlier this week more than 1,500 Con Ed customers in Beechhurst lost power because of the feathered friends nesting in electrical equipment, the NY Post reported. Their nests have reportedly damaged one piece of Con Ed equipment repeatedly, each time costing around $20K to fix.
A Con Ed spokesman says they built their nests on the powerlines for the warmth, adding, "They have caused fires in the past from the nests being around the equipment. We need to remove these nests for reliability." Enter: Hootie! The electronic owl, similar to Robo Hawk, was meant to scare off the parrots, but it didn't work very well—leading to conflicting reports.
Today, the Post reported that the owl has been let go; a Con Ed worker told the paper, "They got used to the owl. [Then] we put up a red flag, and now they're building a nest on it." However, CityRoom explains, "Con Edison technicians are giving him another chance, turning to something else known to deter parakeets: the color orange." A technician said, "We put an orange cape on Hootie, and now he’s Super Hootie."
Last year the Brooklyn Parrots website noted the nesting habits, saying, "While they may pose a headache for Con Edison and Verizon, they are a source of pride and amusement in the local neighborhood... Several residents have expressed interest in installing monk bunker alternative nest platforms to house them."
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They're deterred by the color Orange?!!??!? Put a pic Kelly Bensimon's face up in that thar nest, that'll do the trick. She has a nice toasted circus peanut hue to her.
This is awesome.
There are plenty of young minority youths you can pay to bang near the pole and bang da birds off.
A [ConEd] technician said, "We put an orange cape on Hootie [the electronic owl], and now he’s Super Hootie."
This is the only thing about ConEd that has ever made me laugh.
We should combat this threat *ecologically* by importing the parrot's natural enemy and then releasing it onto the streets of Queens.
The downside is that Amazonian Loggers eventually wind-up chopping down all the telephone poles they find.
You want to import Argentinians and release them onto the streets of Queens?
Anyone for 50-cent wings? Bleu cheese dipping sauce?
Interesting that Nixon was a Quaker, too.
Orange, huh? Just ship in a few can-tanned guidos from Staten Island and they'll fix 'em birds good!
only those that have not experienced these magnificent birds in the wild can feel upset by their beauty... I'm glad some people can rejoice in their presence.