NJ Law regarding Wild Quakers

Sadly, the law basically sanctions the killing of the birds, even though there are plenty of bird adopters and bird lovers who want to help the birds. So, young birds recovered from nests, along with any eggs inside, are destroyed almost reflexively, as if their lives didn't matter at all. Not only is this process cruel, immoral, and wasteful - it is completely unnecessary. There are plenty of alternatives for displaced Quakers. Nobody wants to kill the birds, but nobody can lift a single finger to stop the killing, because doing so is against the law!

Hopefully, this will never happen again!

It's sad to see these nests go, but there's a silver lining to this cloud: the Edgewater parrot colony may actually be better off if these removals happen now, rather than in June or July. There are likely no eggs nor young in the nests right now, the weather is favorable, there is plenty of food and plenty of time to rebuild before winter.

My biggest worry about these birds being nestless over the next few months is their increased exposure to Red-Tailed hawks. There are many such predators living in the cliffs and high-rises above Edgewater, and I've personally witnessed some very scary strafing runs by Red-Tails against the parrots. It would be unfortunate if the colony is decimated by Pale Male and Lola's progeny due to a lack of protection. (Note: I'm not anti-hawk - in fact, I'm a former Pale Male partisan, but I do wish these raptors would stay away from the parrots, at least for the next few months while they're vulnerable).

Only time will tell whether PSE&G's nest removals lead to an appreciable decline in Edgewater's wild parrot population. One hopes that the parrots will simply take their lumps this week, rebuild expeditiously, and make maximally effective use of their unique defensive "sentinel" defenses to thwart the raptors.

For what it's worth, PSE&G has been very forthright, open, and cooperative in terms of meeting with New Jersey residents (and even outsiders from Brooklyn such as Steve, who care about these birds). It's representatives have expressed a sincere willingness to try to devise solutions and practices that will better accomodate the interests of avians and humans in the future. Nobody's served by demonizing either the power company or these charming birds.