Kentucky's Extinct Wild Parrot

When the area now known as Kentucky was covered in virgin forests and "fine cane land", it was home to large flocks of brilliantly colored parrots! Native peoples had many names for the birds but they came to be known as "Carolina Parakeet" as the first specimen for Western study was taken from Carolina. The name is a misnomer as the birds had an expansive range that covered much of the South and Midwestern United States. In fields, they were easily spotted by their orange and yellow heads, but the jewel-toned green and blue feathers on their bodies made them virtually invisible among the leaves of the trees.



Carolina Parkeets were already in decline when John James Audubon first wrote of them in 1830, stating: "Our Parakeets are very rapidly diminishing in number; and in some districts, where twenty-five years ago they were plentiful, scarcely any are now to be seen. At that period, they could be procured as far up the tributary waters of the Ohio as the Great Kenhawa, the Scioto, the heads of Miami, the mouth of the Manimee at its junction with Lake Erie, on the Illinois river, and sometimes as far north-east as Lake Ontario, and along the eastern districts as far as the boundary line between Virginia and Maryland. At the present day, very few are to be found higher than Cincinnati, nor is it until you reach the mouth of the Ohio that Parakeets are met with in considerable numbers. I should think that along the Mississippi there is not now half the number that existed fifteen years ago."



There was little difference in coloring between males and females Carolina Parakeets, but northern varieties are believed to have more blue feathers. Juveniles were entirely green and required two years to reach maturity. The birds flocked in enormous groups of 200 to 300 and could be found in forests, swamps and the shores along rivers and creeks. They would call loudly when flying together, but were perfectly quiet when roosting. Their calls could reportedly be heard for over a mile. A cry from an injured bird would summon the entire flock to its aid. Unfortunately, this altruistic trait enabled farmers to easily exterminate entire flocks in brutal fashion as they would not take flight once one was injured no matter how many others were killed. Farmers took out the birds in great numbers in revenge for destroyed crops and fruit trees.

They were the only native fauna known to enjoy the fruit of the cockburs, a bur-covered plant that was hated by farmers for taking over soil rich fields and injuring livestock. The plant could only be removed by digging up its roots. Carolina parakeets would destroy the plants by alighting on them as a group and eating or destroying every single fruit from the plant. In this way, they were helpful to the farmer. Trouble was they treated fruit trees in a similar manner, and thus became vilified as a pest.



Still, others loved them. The Carolina Parakeets were admired for their colorful plumage and were popular decorations for hats up until the point of extinction. Some were captured as pets, although they showed no promise in learning words and their songs were described as "unpleasant". No attempts were made to bred them because they were so easily captured in the wild. By the 1890s, the Carolina Parakeets could only be found in the swamps of Florida. Ornithologists and collectors combed the region for the last remnants of the birds in the early 20th Century, killing hundreds to stuff for posterity, considering the extinction of the species inevitable while doing absolutely nothing about it.



"Incas", the last Carolina Parakeet in captivity, died at the Cincinnati Zoo in February 1918. Incas spent his final days in an aviary that once housed "Martha", the last passenger pigeon who died in 1914. After Incas's passing, the birds were rarely seen in the wild. Unverified sightings continued, but North America's native parrot was officially declared extinct in 1938. Reasons for the extinction are believed to be largely human caused including destruction of habitat, massive culling by farmers, harvesting for millinery plumage, and demand for pets.

Whether that was the end of the line for the Carolina Parakeet remains to be seen. In recent years, scientists have decoded the bird's DNA. By combining the genome of the Carolina parakeet with a similar South American parakeet’s embryo, it's possible the Carolina parakeet could be revived. Some wildlife biologist are making the pitch that a small flock of the birds could be reintroduced in Florida at Lake Okeechobee.