Parroting

 

Peek-a-Boo

 

We see you! (Mostly, I could HEAR you...the parrots are incapable of being quiet!)

A Glorious Racket

 

The flocks of wild parrots that live in San Diego are marvelous. They are never quiet, and even if there are 3 or 4 of them it sounds like many more. We haven't seen or heard them in a while, and then yesterday at least a dozen of them showed up in the neighbor's twisted juniper tree (and paper bark tree) to eat berries. They made a glorious racket!

Les Perroquets

 

Le squawk!

Really?!

 Would you please look at this cuteness? This sweet (and large) dog was padding around a nursery where we went to order a new fountain for our feathered friends. So sweet, so mellow, so cute.

Speaking of feathered friends...amazing blue feathers when he/she opens his/her wings.

Papagei/Perroquet/Pappagallo

 

 Left.

 Right.

 Center.

Parrot Racket

 Today's neighborhood bird drama involved about 25 parrots. It was raining lightly, and I heard them making a racket, which they always do as they fly over. This din continued for about 15 minutes, so I went out front and they were in various palm trees down our street. It was VERY hard to spot them--they blend right in! I'm not sure what they were doing except for being VERY noisy! (I love them!)

Pappagallo

How I love the parrots. They are so delightfully loud and raucous.

Pappagallo

The parrots landed in our neighbors' very large and tall twisted junipers and proceeded to make their usual glorious racket--I love them so!

Check out the last photo--I think that is a bee over the parrot's head!

Parrots/Berries

(I love the last photo--it's as if they are saying, "What are YOU looking at?")

In fact, I was quite far away from them, but they do seem to be looking my way, don't they?!

Parrot Spotting

Parrots!!!

As I've blogged about before, there are wild parrots in our neighborhood (all over Southern California, actually). There were three in the twisted juniper next door, making a racket; two of them flew away leaving this guy/girl behind. Not the best photos, but they still reveal the coolness that is these birds!

I envy my friend Robin (see above link to previous blog post) who has them up close and personal right in front of her house. Cool!

Red and Green on the Wing

I cannot express how happy this makes me. These are red-faced conures enjoying toyon berries in the front of  Robin's house (Robin of Various and Sunday). There were about 12  of them, and they make this funny crackling noise while they eat.

The first time I ever encountered them on a bush eating berries like this was in Los Angeles--I came around a corner with Tallulah Mae's predecessor, Elektra, and there they were, dozens of them, in a bush. It took my breath away.

These parrots are legendary in Southern California. We saw and heard them in L.A., and I see/hear them every day here in SD. We lived in L.A. during the 1994 Northridge earthquake, which struck around 4:30 a.m. It was a ferocious quake, and of course it knocked electricity out. As the sun came up on a dark and quiet city, the first sign of life we heard was a flock of wild parrots flying overhead. It was, somehow, very reassuring.

By the way, those photos above are straight out of the camera--no enhancements needed when you're that beautiful!