Escaped parakeet Mei Mei roams Central Park as winter looms
Birders race to capture the domesticated budgerigar who has joined a sparrow flock, wary of the coming cold.
An escaped budgerigar known as Mei Mei has been living among a flock of house sparrows in Central Park for about a month, but winter’s approach threatens her survival. The bright green bird has been repeatedly spotted in the Seneca Village area near the Upper West Side since around Aug. 20, according to birders tracking her movements.
People who monitor Mei Mei say she has largely shed her domestic life and now moves with the sparrow flock. “She’s become a sparrow. Literally,” said Sean Mintz, an Upper East Side investor turned bird watcher who has chronicled Mei Mei’s sightings on X under Bagels & Walks. “If it’s foraging in the grass, it’s very hard to see because it’s green, but if she flies with the brown sparrows, you might notice something is off.” Mintz cautioned that, while the rescue effort helps, she’s not built for the park’s upcoming cold. “The fact that she was taken in gives her a better chance than some, but she’s just not built for this environment, and she just doesn’t know at the moment that in two weeks it might be too cold for her.”
Birders note Mei Mei’s appearance is unusual but not unprecedented in New York’s urban wildlife. The Budgerigar, also known as a common parakeet, is native to Australia and is typically kept warm in captivity; unlike the monk parakeets that flourish in New York, budgies lack the body fat and weather tolerance to survive sustained cold. The species generally cannot endure winters in the city without a warm environment around 70 degrees. Observers have identified Mei Mei’s sex in part by her cere color; browner ceres typically indicate a female, while males often show blue or green ceres.
In its short time outside captivity, Mei Mei has apparently embraced a free life — yet she remains wary of people. Lost parakeets are known to perch on curious fingers, but Mei Mei flees whenever a person approaches, and she now perches and forages with sparrows instead of caged companions. “The Budgerigar survives by eating grass seeds and possibly bugs. She stays safe by foraging with a House Sparrow flock: if one bird notices danger and flies away, the entire flock will join in flight,” said David Barrett, the organizer behind the X account Manhattan Bird Alert. He added that the bird’s wild-like behavior makes traditional rescue difficult, even as it keeps her visible to birders.
Reaction within the birding community is split. Some celebrate Mei Mei’s adaptation as a powerful symbol of freedom, while others fear for her health and push for capture and rehoming. With winter looming, rescuers hope cold weather will slow her down enough to catch her and bring her indoors, either back to an owner or into a suitable sanctuary. The Australian origin birds do not store fat and cannot survive once temperatures drop below 50 degrees, meaning rescuers have just about four weeks to act.
The next steps remain uncertain: local volunteers and organizers are coordinating identification, capture attempts and rehoming options, all while monitoring weather forecasts. For Mei Mei, the clock is ticking as New York braces for a cold season, and the birding community continues to weigh the balance between freedom and safety for the bright-green visitor.
