Cell company must find new home for birds

PORT ORCHARD, Wash. – The City Council has ruled that Cingular Wireless can replace a cell phone tower in this Kitsap Peninsula city with one that’s nearly twice as tall – but only if some lime-green Quaker parrots nesting on it are safely placed in captivity.

The parrots, which number 20 or more, are apparently the offspring of five Quakers that escaped on their way to a bird shop in the South Kitsap Mall.

The state Department of Fish and Wildlife recommended that the birds, which are native to South America, be captured.

“Parrots have been known to spread diseases and can have a long-term ecological impact to native wildlife,” Fish and Wildlife biologist Jeff Davis wrote in a letter to the Port Orchard City Council.

The council approved Cingular’s plan Monday, saying the company could replace a 60-foot tower on Mitchell Avenue with one that’s 113 feet tall – once the birds get a new home.

A local trapper is working with Cingular to capture the birds. Kate Clark of the nonprofit Angel Wings Exotic Bird Rescue and Rehab in Kitsap County has volunteered to care for the birds until they are appropriately relocated.

They could go to breeders, pet shops, homes or be donated to schools, Clark said.

There are large numbers of Quaker Parrots in the wild in California, Louisiana and Pennsylvania. There is even a flock known to live in Chicago, said avian veterinarian Scott Ford of the Medical Center for Birds in Oakley, Calif.

Some states have outlawed the birds.