Monks and Quakers

“Parrot pie is said to be pretty good; at least, it may be so when other animal food is scarce.” Peter Lund Simmonds, The Curiosities of Food (1859)

Down at the very beginning of Henry Street, we recently saw a monk parakeet colony. Heard them first, of course, since they are such noisy beasts. It’s up in the closest ball field light platform to the end of the street. Green-Wood, Brooklyn College, here and there in Flatbush, the monk is well represented in the borough. Once when I was with OHS and the Hobbit (so named for his ability to walk anywhere in his bare feet) in Green-Wood, a woman noticing my binoculars came up and asked me where the Quakers were. In Prospect Park, I said, referencing the Friends' Cemetery within the park. That’s when I learned another name for this bird is “Quaker parrot.”