THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, September 15, 1994 TAG: 9409130174
SECTION: NORFOLK COMPASS PAGE: W9 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JOAN C. STANUS, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 70 lines
Virginia Power officials call them ``nuisance birds.''
The manager of a Norfolk restaurant say they're good for business.
And residents who live near the Lafayette River bridge on Granby Street where three ``pretty, olive-colored'' monk parakeets have stubbornly rebuilt their destroyed nest worry the tropical creatures won't survive the winter.
``It's so sad to think these birds are struggling against such severe odds,'' said Marcia McVay, an ardent birdwatcher who lives in Ellsworth. ``Maybe somebody could figure a way to get them down and find them a home without putting them in peril. I'm worried they won't survive the winter if their nest is destroyed again.''
Added Fouad Mohit, manager of Tabouli restaurant, just south of the birds' nest: ``They're a good thing for Granby Street. People stop and look. . . Some of my customers bird-watch while they eat. I like them out there.''
The saga of the Granby Street monk parakeets began last spring, when two of the parrot-like birds built a nest of thick sticks atop a Virginia Power utility pole, just underneath two warm, cylindrical transformers.
After the nest caused a May power outage at the nearby Diagnostic Services of Tidewater, Virginia Power officials contacted Peninsula Cage Bird Society members.
``The society members will remove the eggs or babies and raise them in captivity. . . and then give them to people as pets,'' explained Mike Stoneham, Norfolk district manager for Virginia Power. ``If they can catch the parent birds, they also take them.''
But after climbing the pole, society members discovered an empty nest, he said. For days afterward, power company workers and society members kept watch for the parent parakeets. Eventually, one bird was spotted, but it never returned to the nest.
So the nest was removed.
``We had our fingers crossed that the remaining bird wouldn't come back and rebuild the nest,'' Stoneham said.
No such luck. A couple of weeks ago, Mohit and his staff noticed three birds had vigorously begun assembling sticks in the same spot.
``All of a sudden, there they were again,'' he said. ``At first there were just two, but now there are three. We figure two are male and one is female, because one is courting the other and two are constantly fighting.
``Maybe they figure they've got their lease back,'' he quipped.
Added Shoreham: ``It does seem strange they'd pick the same location. It must be something about that pole. It is warm there.''
No one knows if these are the same birds who built the nest last spring or new ones attracted to the same spot. Other monk parakeets have lived in the area. A Virginia Beach ornithologist spotted ones at Fort Story, and Virginia Power's Stoneham said his workers removed a nest in Ocean View about four years ago.
Birdwatchers believe the tropical birds found their way to Hampton Roads, after escaping en route to pet shops in New York from South America.
``They don't serve any useful purpose,'' said Shoreham. ``They will eat the apples and pears off your trees. They're nuisance birds.'' He said he's already started working with Peninsula society members to remove this second Granby Street nest.
But for bird lovers like Mohit and McVay, it will be a sad day when the monk parakeets leave their Granby Street roost.
Said Mohit: ``I definitely enjoy watching them. I would hate to see them captured and confined. They're a good attraction.'' ILLUSTRATION: Staff photo by JIM WALKER
Monk parakeets have rebuilt this nest under a power transformer.
by CNB