The monk parakeet, also known as the Quaker parrot, is a species of true parrot in the family Psittacidae. It is a small, bright-green bird with a greyish breast and greenish-yellow abdomen.

Its average lifespan is 20–30 years. It originates from the temperate to subtropical areas of Argentina and the surrounding countries in South America. Self-sustaining feral populations occur in many places, mainly in North America and Europe.

The monk parakeet is the only parrot that builds a stick nest, in a tree or on a man-made structure, rather than using a hole in a tree. This gregarious species often breeds colonially, building a single large nest with separate entrances for each pair.

In the wild, the colonies can become quite large, with pairs occupying separate "apartments" in nests that can reach the size of a small automobile. These nests can attract many other tenants including birds of prey, ducks, and even mammals. Their five to 12 white eggs hatch in about 24 days.

Monk parakeets are highly intelligent, social birds. Those kept as pets routinely develop vocabularies of scores of words and phrases. Due to this early speaking ability, it is overtaking the cockatiel as the favorite bird to teach to talk.

Because of monk parakeets' listing as an agricultural pest, the U.S. states of California, Georgia, Kansas, Kentucky, Hawaii, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, and Wyoming, as well as Western Australia outlaw sale and ownership.

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