Exploring life amidst death: The monk parrots that call Green-Wood Cemetery their home

• A group of green monk parrots sit atop the 19th century Gothic arched entrance of Green-Wood Cemetery.
• Now, for the first time, research is being done to find out not how they got here, but why they stayed here.
• For a place so closely associated with death, Green-Wood Cemetery is very much alive, so much so that some living things are not found anywhere else here - a discovery made possible by the growing amount of research being done daily.

A group of green monk parrots sit atop the 19th century Gothic arched entrance of Green-Wood Cemetery.

However, chances are you'll hear them before you see them.

How vocal are these colorful birds? Ask tourist Tim Ozog, who visited the Brooklyn cemetery with his wife Carol Summers.

"I have hearing aids, so their particular squeal is a little annoying," said Ozog, a Seattle native.

Eric Thompson, a researcher and graduate student in the Hunter College Animal Behavior and Conservation program, said the birds are indeed "very vocal" and "very loud."

Now, for the first time, research is being done to find out not how they got here, but why they stayed here.

"In the late nineties and early 2000s, when the Gothic Arch was undergoing restoration work, the nest was attempted to be relocated," says Sarah Evans, senior manager and curator of living collections, "After the restoration, the monk parrots began rebuilding their nest.

Thompson explained that this species is quite sociable and lives in groups.

"They're just little green parrots. They're sociable. They live in huge nests that are like apartment buildings where everyone has their own little house," Thompson says.

"This is one of the rare opportunities to study an animal that is not in a cage," he said.

For a place so closely associated with death, Green-Wood Cemetery is very much alive, so much so that some living things are not found anywhere else here - a discovery made possible by the growing amount of research being done daily.

"In fact, a new fungus was discovered here by one of the citizen scientists. It got the scientists in Hungary interested," says Evans.

Visitors are encouraged to get involved in exploring and documenting life in Green-Wood through apps such as iNaturalist.

A center for education and learning will open here in 2025, and a perpetually busy nest, this cemetery is as busy as the city in which it is located.