Parrot Mountain, Part II

I had so many pictures of parrots from Parrot Mountain and Gardens, I just had to share a few more.  Here are some of the birds in the “Parrot Garden”, where you could touch and feed them.

 This bird was a beautiful blue, and liked to do a trick pretending to be an eagle.  Being a macaw, it is a BIG bird.

There were also some smaller birds in the garden, like these Sun Conures.

These birds are also known as the Sun Parakeet (Aratinga solstitialis).  It’s native to the north-eastern coastal forests of South America, specifically eastern Venezuela, North-eastern Brazil and Northern Amazonas.  They can live for 25 to 30 years.  One thing interesting about this bird besides the beautiful colors is that a sun conure is noted for its loud squawking compared to its relatively small size. It is also capable of mimicking humans though not as well as some larger parrots.

Then there were the birds in one of the “bird cottages”, or smaller aviaries, some of them quite big birds, like these Green Wing Macaws.

It strikes me as kind of funny to call them “Green Wing” macaws, when their predominant color is red.  Yes, they have a row of green feathers on their wings.  Still, I think I’d have dubbed them red macaws, or at least red and green macaws.

This little bird, however, is more appropriately named.

Mustached Parakeet is a very apt name with that black bar over top of the beak.  It’s a pretty bird, too.

This bird comes from the Himalayas and southern China to Indonesia.  This is a medium-sized parrot, averaging 13 – 16 inches in length (33 – 40 cm).  In most subspecies of Moustached Parakeets, the males have red beaks and the females have black.

The Rose-breasted cockatoos were another pretty bird.

One of them was intensely curious about us, and kept climbing around trying to keep close.

This last bird is not a parrot, and I don’t think much of anyone keeps them as pets either.  But they are interesting birds!

Do you know what this is?

Here’s a hint – these birds are terrestrial kingfishers native to Australia and New Guinea.  Their call is described as sounding uncannily like loud, echoing human laughter.  These birds are carnivorous, and will eat lizards, snakes, insects, mice, other small birds, and raw meat.  So have you guessed yet?

Yes, it’s a Kookaburra bird!

There were just so many different types of birds at Parrot Mountain!  It was a treat to see so many in one place.

I’d love to go back!