[EBB Sightings] Red-masked Parakeet at Berkeley Marina

Very cool -- they can commute to the other side of the freeway!

But I doubt it is a single escapee or an SF -- unless you are SURE 
that it was not a Mitred Conure (Aratinga mitrata).*
We have had these noisy neighbors in West Berkeley since the 1980s 
(according to reports on this list and Joe Eaton). In the early 2000s 
I would see up 7 of them in my neighborhood (7th betw Univ and 
Gilman) -- but I have noticed much lower numbers reported recently.

In January 2009 the wonderful local nature writer Joe Eaton wrote a 
series in the Berkeley Daily Planet about them. He said that our 
Berkeley birds are Mitred Conures (Aratinga mitrata) but most of the 
San Francisco birds are Red-masked Parakeets/Red-Masked 
Conures/Cherry-Headed Conures (which I think is Aratinga erythrogenys).

*I know you are an expert birder so I would defer to your opinion, 
and surely others will chime in too.

At 12:16 AM 1/9/2010, Bob Battagin wrote:
>Hi EBBer's,
>Yesterday (Friday) there was a Red-masked Parakeet (aka Red-headed 
>Conure, Cherry Conure, etc.) at the Berkeley Marina.  It was in the 
>pines/eucalyptus/willows just north of and across the street from 
>the Sea Breeze Market and Deli at the corner of University Ave. and 
>the I-80 Frontage Road.  The only local sources of this bird I know 
>of would be as an escapee from someone in the City of Berkeley or a 
>bird from the San Francisco population that crossed the Bay and 
>ended up at this location.
>Good birding,
>Bob Battagin
>Woodacre

David Herzstein Couch
1484 7th St
Berkeley, CA 94710
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