Zookeeper has passion for parrots

Queens Zoo has one of the most successful breeding programs in the country for the Thick Billed Parrot, an endangered North American species.
Zookeeper Kelly Carman, 26, refers to her Thick Billed Parrot charges as friends, getting to know them intimately and giving them individual attention.
Out of 18 participating institutions around the country and only seven baby Thick Billed Parrots hatched last year, two were bred at the Zoo, located at the edge of Flushing Meadows-Corona Park.
“I love my job. It’s what I’ve always wanted to do since I was 10,” Carman said. Her day consists of feeding and training the birds and helping raise the chicks.
Carmen, a resident of Astoria, trains the birds to perch on special weighing perches, to fly to a target and to come in at night and go out in the morning. “The length of training depends on the bird. Some birds are much smarter than others,” she said.
Carmen began her career by volunteering at the New York Aquarium, which along with the Queens, Central Park, Prospect Park and Bronx Zoo is managed by the Wildlife Conservation Society. “I was a docent in junior and senior year at high school,” said Carmen as the Zoo’s walkie-talkie crackles in the background. While in college she worked in the Aquarium’s Sea Cliffs area, where she learned to feed and train penguins and other water-dwelling creatures.
After graduating from Long Island’s Southampton College with a degree in psychology and a brief stint at a veterinary practice, Carmen came to work at the Queens Zoo two-and-a-half years ago as a bird keeper. “Animal and human psychology are very similar,” she said.
Although she’s fond of sea creatures, she formed a deep bond with her Thick Billed charges and is happy with her decision to switch to birds.
The 11-acre Queens Zoo, a tribute to American animals, opened to the public on June 25, 1992 and is now home to approximately 400 animals of some 60 species.
According to Assistant Director and Queens Zoo Animal Curator, Scott Silver, the Thick Billed Parrot breeding program is coordinated by the American Zoological Association. “In the program, all 18 institutions agree to co-operatively manage animals under our care as a single group to maximize breeding success and maintain genetic diversity and health. Every institution agrees to abide by committee decisions on which animals to pair up and how many,” he said.
Unfortunately, no one explained this to the Thick Billed Parrots whose personalities, according to Carmen, are as disparate as humans are. “The program matches the birds genetically, but they don’t always get along and more often than not won’t breed,” she said, adding that the program is dedicated to preventing incestuous breeding.
Last year one couple at the Zoo, Ed and Fiona laid three eggs from which two birds hatched. This year the Zoo has four couples and hopes to be even more successful.
The Queens Zoo is located at 53-51 111th Street, in Flushing Meadows-Corona Park and is open every day of the year from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on weekdays and until 5:30 p.m. on weekends and holidays from April 1 to October 31 and from 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. daily in winter. For more information, call 718-271-1500.