James Audubon - Carolina Parrot

The Carolina Parrot was the only parrot species native to the eastern United States. It is now extinct but it was found from southern New York and Wisconsin to the Gulf of Mexico, and lived in old forests along rivers. 

 The Carolina Parrot habitats were forests along rivers, with large hollow trees to use as roosting and nesting sites. It mostly ate the seeds of forest shrubs and other plants (such as thistles) and also ate fruits (often from orchards by the time of its decline). 

Carolina Parrot was probably poisonous—John James Audubon noted that cats apparently died from eating them, and they are known to have eaten the toxic seeds of cockleburs. 

According to a study of mitochondrial DNA recovered from museum specimens, their closest living relatives include the Sun Parakeet, the Golden-capped Parakeet, and the Nanday Parakeet.

Gouttelette print on paper