On the Wing #38: Return of the Carolina Parakeet?
You've probably heard about them and thought one of two things. More likely you thought the former and assumed that all those new species that have become established in America in the past few decades could feasibly fill niches left open by others, but it seems doubtful or you can think like me and see the spread of a particular species as a second coming if you will. I'm referring to the spread of the Monk Parakeet ( Myiopsitta monachus ) throughout the eastern United States and becoming the replacement species for the Carolina Parakeet ( Conuropsis carolinensis ). While I'm certain it probably won't fill the same niche eating the cockleburs that the Carolinas consumed, it certainly has the potential to spread far and wide. The extinction of the Passenger Pigeon ( Ectopistes migratorius ) certainly has left a gap in the American ecological histories of the country, but could another introduced species like the Eurasian Collared-Dove ( Streptopelia decaocto ) replace i...