Work in Progress / Carolina Parakeet

Driven to extinction largely because of human activity and shrinking habitat, the last Carolina Parakeet died in 1918—right around the time farmers began planting kudzu to prevent soil erosion. Now, North Carolina’s landscape is characterized by roadsides blanketed in these invasive vines. Kudzu is part of the mythology of the South; however, few people know that the skies were once graced with flocks of vibrantly colored parakeets. How do the stories about a place take hold? How does an entire region forget the only parrot species endemic to North America?

Special thanks to the Carnegie Museum of Natural History for providing access to their Carolina Parakeet specimens.