Date: Mon, 8 Apr 2002 17:12:31 -0400 Reply-To: Maryland Birds & Birding Sender: Maryland Birds & Birding From: CYANBLUECOBALT Subject: Monk Parakeet...odd behavior?? MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable THIS POST IS WRITTEN BY ADAM SMITH. I saw the Monk Parakeet this morning mentioned in a previous post. The = nest was easy to spot, I saw if while sitting at the light, waiting to = turn onto Red Clay Road. I heard it call a few times, even while in the = nest. I do have a question about a behavior I witnessed why observing = the bird. I saw it fly down the grass just a few feet away from my car = and start to "eat" the grass. I watched it snip off a piece of grass = and appear to chew it up. It did this three times. The fourth time it = took a larger blade of grass and fly back to the nest it is = constructing. =20 1)Do these birds eat grass?...or was it simply rolling the grass blades = up into balls and holding it in its bill, then flying back to = the nest to line the inner cavity with the grass? 2)While watching the bird, I saw it fly in a SW direction away from its = nest to another telephone poll, located behind a store on = Old Annapolis Road. I was unable to locate any nests on the pole that I = thought it landed on, though I was pressed for time so I couldnt = not complete a thorough search. I do know that they are colonial = nesters. So my second question is this...do these birds make multiple = nests? If so...Someone who has more time, may want to check out = the area for additional nests. =20 Adam >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Adam Smith Arbutus, Baltimore County, MD CYANBLUECOBALT@email.msn.com <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<< =3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D To leave the MDOsprey list, send e-mail to listserv@home.ease.lsoft.com with the following message in line 1: signoff mdosprey =3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D =========================================================================