UH invited some feathery guests to campus by building a parrot feeding station for the ‘Systems of Sustainability: Art, Innovation, Action’ exhibit.
The feeder is meant to attract Monk Parrots that originate from Argentina. Students can see the feeding station when they walk through the Moores School of Music courtyard.
Artist Brain Collier designed the feeder and made sure the right foods were used, also making it difficult for squirrels to eat the birds’ food.
‘I made the feeder with squirrel baskets and placed the feeder away from any trees that squirrels could use to jump onto the feeder,’ Collier said.
The rest of the design was for aesthetic sculpture interest, Collier said.
‘The triangular design is beautiful and structurally sound,’ Collier said.
Collier, who lives in Kansas, built the observation station after monitoring wildlife on and near campus.
The design might catch students’ eyes, but it might not be getting the parrots’ attention.
‘Monk Parrots are shy, and may not be used to feeding in that area,’ David Sarkozi, UH public safety systems manager, said.
They played recordings of feeding parrots, but the parrots have to fly over to investigate, Sarkozi said.
‘The parrots are not used to feeding in that area, but if students go by the McDonald’s on Elgin they will see the parrots walking around the field,’ Sarkozi said.
Carolina Parrots were the native parrots that lived in the Houston area before they were hunted. The parrots were considered a crop pest.
‘It is usually not hunting that endangers an animal,’ Sarkozi said. ‘It is the environmental changes that endangers birds because they can’t find a place to breed.’
Monk Parrots eat the same foods Carolina Parrots ate.’ Any time an animal becomes extinct there is a void that is left by the extinction, Sarkozi said.
Blaffer Gallery intern Taylor Alvis makes sure the bird feeder has an ample amount of fruit and seeds for the birds that feed at the station.
The students from Blaffer didn’t seem to notice the parrot feeder, nor did they notice it attracting any bright green birds.
Music students usually practice their instruments in the courtyard, so it might be a little busy, music education senior Brittany Stewart said.
‘I have never noticed any parrots. I have seen birds, but not parrots,’ Stewart said.
Music education senior Alfonso Manzanera said he thinks the parrot feeding station belongs on a playground.
‘If children were here they would be climbing all over it,’ Manzanera said.
Some of the students didn’t know it was a feeding station.
‘I had no idea it was a parrot feeder. I didn’t know there were parrots (in Houston),’ music performance senior Allen Miller said.
Music education freshman Stephanie Krass thought it was something creative from the art department.
The feeding station will stay up for the remainder of the semester.
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