Wild Ring-Necked Parakeets in London

Would you believe there are flocks of Rose-ringed parakeets in London?  I mean BIG flocks, like 500 or so!

How do I know this?  A reader, Andrew Perrott, sent me some pictures to share of these birds.  He took them around his home which happens to be less than a mile from London Heathrow airport’s Terminal 4!
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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!

Parrot Mountain and Gardens

Parrot Mountain is just what it says… you climb up a STEEP road to the top of a mountain to see LOTS of parrots!  We’ve been to the Pigeon Forge / Gatlinburg area of east Tennessee many times, but this is the first time we’ve visited Parrot Mountain.  If I have my way, it certainly won’t be the last!

Nestled on four acres of beautiful landscaped gardens, there are hundreds and hundreds of beautiful tropical birds at Parrot Mountain and Gardens.  I’ve never seen so many macaws, cockatoos, and African Grey parrots in one place!  It was amazing!

One reason they have so many parrots is because they are also the Wings of the Smokies Foundation, and provide a home for abused or neglected birds.  When you consider the average life expectancy of a parrot is from 40-80 years, depending on the type, many parrots outlive their owners. 

And sadly, many people get a parrot because they are so colorful and seem like they’d be a neat pet, without any idea what it’s like to live with a parrot.  They are wonderful creatures, but there’s no denying they can be noisy, messy and that beak can inflict a painful bite!  If you don’t realize what it’s like, or how to properly care for a parrot, you may decide living with one is not for you after all!

There are all kinds of tropical birds sitting on open perches lining the pathways.  There are also big wire aviaries with many birds of the same species.  I saw one with African Grey parrots, and there must have been a dozen birds in there, all in perfect feather.  (If you know anything about African Greys, they are notorious for feather plucking!)

There were also some pairs, like these Eclectus Parrots. . .

I’ve always thought they were kind of cool because the males and females are totally different colors, making them look like two different species.

They had some peacocks, too, plus this exotic looking pheasant-type bird.

I’m not sure if there was a plaque describing that bird.  I don’t remember seeing one.  Getting the picture was a challenge.  The cage wires made some blurs in a lot of the pictures I took.

Close by is the door to the “secret garden” with aviary netting over top so birds can fly.  At the time we were there, we only saw two birds, both toucans.

Then there was a ‘bird garden’ with around 70 birds on open perches.  The Farmer let one walk onto his arm.

Of course, once it was there, it didn’t want to leave!  In fact, it kept sticking it’s leg out wanting to be picked up.  I would have liked to take it home. . .

Some of the birds talked or sang or did tricks.  It was so much fun to see them all!  There was also a lory aviary next door. You can feed the lories nectar from a cup in your hand.

And one of my favorite places was the baby bird nursery.  Talk about temptation!  All the little African Grey parrots and cockatoos, and a few other species also.  There was a little blue parrotlet (pocket parrot) I would have really loved to stick in my pocket and bring home.

Unfortunately, no picture taking was allowed in the nursery.  And there were just so many birds at Parrot Mountain, I can’t begin to include all the pictures or descriptions here.

All I can say is if you like birds, and you are in the area, do NOT miss a trip to Parrot Mountain.

Alpine Ibex on Cingino Dam

A good friend from Australia (Hi Susan!) sent me an email this morning with some really neat pictures in it.

The picture was taken in northern Italy, and is the Cingino Dam (Diga del Cingino).

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Friday’s Farm Fotos

Time for a round-up of photos from around the farm this week.  We’ve had some beautiful weather, and critters and people are all enjoying it.

The guineas are done nesting for the year, and back in one big flock.  Here they are in our front yard. . .

They hatched a lot of keets, but made a poor showing for keeping them!  There are only two survivors.  Guineas will NOT be winning the mother of the year award!

The chickens like to forage in the grass too.  It’s a nice buffet of seeds and bugs.

They not only forage in the front yard and fields, they go down around the pond too.

And they are often near the birdbath, since they like to use it for their local watering hole.

While the chickens are running around, the goat and llama are taking a break and enjoying the sunshine.

Since the weather was cooler, Toby and I decided to walk in the woods.  In the bottom pasture, there are still some butterflies flitting around.

There are still white flowers blooming in the fields and woods.

Since ya’ll are so good at identifying birds, how about trees?  There is a pretty tall tree in our woods with purplish stems at the top.

And to help with the identification, here is a closer look at the leaves of the tree . . .

And now, a closer look at those purple stems at the top of the tree. . .

So how about it, anyone know what the tree is?

And now, it’s time to jump into the week-end!

Hope ya’ll have a GREAT week-end!