NYCs Greenwood Cemetery has Cherry Blossom season secret weapon wild, mysterious monk parakeets
Cherry Blossom season is for the birds in Brooklyn.At Greenwood Cemetery the yearly blossoming of the vibrant pink trees is also a time for an unusual, local sight — a throng of florescent green monk parakeets, who perch on the branches to enjoy a yearly spring feast.The tree’s fruit bulbs are a favorite meal for the feral fowl, making for a mix of colors in the branches that is unique to the cemetery’s cherry blossom blooming.“We do have a pretty beautiful collection of Japanese cherry trees that really make a show of it.
Cherry blossoms are so ephemeral — but the monk parakeets are around year-long,” said Sara Evans, the Director of the Living Collections at the cemetery.“If the cherry blossom season is getting people excited to visit Greenwood, they’re probably going to be even more excited and — just even more surprised to have that sort of engagement with wildlife that might have been unexpected.”There are as many as 75 feral monk parakeets that live at the iconic cemetery — where legends like Jean-Michel Basquiat, Leonard Bernstein and Frederick August Otto (FAO) Schwarz have been laid to rest.Local lore claims the species, native to Brazil and Argentina, came to the Big Apple decades ago when they were imported to John F.Kennedy airport as part of the pet trade — but they escaped and spread throughout the five boroughs.A significant population took refuge in the cemetery, transforming the nooks and crannies of the Gothic Archway into a bird-sized apartment building that they are “constantly building and maintaining,” said Evans.The birds are brazen and far from shy about reaping the benefits of the flower-filled cemetery — especially during Cherry Blossom season.“I have just seen them nibbling and eating the buds off the cherry blossom trees,” Evans said.“Many times you’ll see just the monk parakeet foraging for fallen blossoms, but you’ll also see them in the trees eating.
And they primarily pick off live twigs to...