These Carolina Parakeets evolved after reading Alexander Wilson's observations in the early 1800's: "having myself seen them, in the month of February, along the banks of the Ohio, in a snow storm, flying about like pigeons, and in full cry."

Once common in the southeastern United States, the Carolina parakeet became increasingly scarce as deforestation reduced its habitat. Already rare by the mid 1880s, its last stand was in Florida, where, in 1920, a flock of 30 birds was the last ever seen of the only native parrot of the United States.

Read an excellent article (.pdf format) on the Carolina Parakeet published by South Carolina Wildlife in 2002.