I am pretty sure they were monk parakeets, similar to these in the YouTube video above, which have spread across the suburbs over the years.

His question brought back a lot of memories.

Back 20 or 25 years ago, before my wife and our four kids and when I still had the time and money, I used to whack a bucket of balls around the Jackson Park driving range a couple times a month.

I found it very therapeutic, even the drive down Lake Shore Drive from the North Side.

Before you ask, this is not a lament.

A wife and four kids is far preferable to the time and money to whack a bucket of golf balls around the driving range.

So one day, I am in the middle of my back swing at Jackson Park, feeling rather proud of my swing when this raucous sound erupts from the light pole behind me.

And there's this luridly green, odd bird making all kinds of racket.

I tell my buddy about it that night and he gives me the scoop. Well, what was the scoop in those days, that the birds had escaped at O'Hare.

That's really not true, apparently. More likely they are escapees or releases that survived.

Over the years, the golf clubs have been retired to spot of hanging on the gun rack in the basement.

But I have made several treks to look at the monk parakeets at various spots around Chicago and the near suburbs.

It's not natural, I know. But I do it any way.