TRUTH OR CONSEQUENCES, N.M. — A bright green parrot has become a sensation for birdwatchers and biologists in central New Mexico.
The endangered thick-billed parrot -- an endangered species not seen in the United States for decades -- has been spotted at Ted Turner's ranch near here, feasting on seeds pried out of pine cones in ranch manager Tom Waddell's yard.
"It's big," said Ken Stinnett of Las Cruces, a trained biologist who works as a stockbroker. He posted the sighting of the green parrot with a crimson forehead on an Internet birding site. "It turned into a frenzy," he said.
"Birders have flown in from all over," Waddell said. "It's like observing an extinct species."
The parrots once ranged from Mexico into the mountains of southwestern New Mexico and southeastern Arizona. But hunting and the loss of their pine forest habitat drove the birds away.
