Many people are surprised to hear we have a colony of feral monk parakeets (a.k.a. quaker parrots, Myiopsitta monachus) living at the lake.  That’s an unusual bird for North Texas, and certainly not native.  It’s true that domestic parakeets escaped and found the area to be inviting, and the rest is history.  There’s now a rather substantial group of them hanging around the water all year long.

In my recent wanderings, I stumbled upon them one day as they raucously lounged in the afternoon sun atop a very large tree.

Keep in mind I could never get close to them, hence the poor quality of these photos.  The tree was on top of a hill, they were at the top of the tree, and the only clear shots I could get were from a position down the hill in a clearing.  Still, I think you can see they’re a thriving bunch, and if you’d been there you’d also know they’re a rather loud bunch, boisterous and rowdy.

I promise next time I’ll try to catch them in a better position that will enable me to get more presentable photographs.  For these, however, the larger versions linked to are the best I got.