Pacific Parakeets

Pacific Parakeets roosting in San Salvador

I've written before about the Pacific Parakeet roost in Antiguo Cuscatlán, a neighborhood of San Salvador. Later today, Saturday 29 January, me and other birders in El Salvador are going to count the parakeets that use this roost as part of a World Parrot Count, organized by two parrot researchers from the University of Leiden (The Netherlands) and Heidelberg (Germany).

When I stumbled upon their web site, I immediately thought about the Antiguo Cuscatlán roost and how I and others could participate in this initiative. I suggested this to the local club of bird observers in El Salvador, and many people responded with enthusiasm. The ministry of environmental affairs even put out a press release, resulting in some press coverage (and more press coverage here and here)!

Several hundreds of parakeets roost here, the vast majority Pacific Parakeets, often with some Red-throated Parakeets mixed in. Roselvy and I were there a few weeks ago and saw at least 12 Red-throated Parakeets, thinking there were probably more. I hope to be able to share the results of our count here in this blog tomorrow.