Friday Night Photos Green Bird Edition

Happy Friday everyone, Hope everybody is doing well. Post any photos, memes, or music you like.

More rain and below normal temps again this week. Since the atmospheric rivers started flowing a few months ago we've had at least one day of rain every week, and while we do need the water it's starting to get a little old. Not as many sunny and 70° days that we normally get. On the up side the ground is so saturated I haven't had to water my orange trees in months.

For the last few months there has been a small flock of Red-crowned Parrots hanging out at Santee Lakes. I've seen them there in the past but this is the first time they have hung around this long. Normally they're only there for a day or two before moving on. Along with being colorful they are also very vocal and very loud. You can hear them squawking from a long ways away which makes them easier to find.

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QMS's picture

we have a local character that lives in a short, old converted school bus
and odd-jobs around the area. He has a couple really loud birds living with him.
I think one is a macaw and the other a parrot.
You can always hear when he is in the neighborhood.

Meet Jonathan. A not green 189 year old tortoise -

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thanks for the pix and the great old PG's FM tune!

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truth is considered foreign influence, world peace is a threat to national security

Socialprogressive's picture

@QMS
Love the shot of Jonathan. He holds he's age well. He doesn't look a day over 150.
Of all the FM lineups, the original lineup with Peter Green is my favorite.

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janis b's picture

Such stunning clarity and colour! I especially enjoyed the second photo of the parrot in flight.

Some colour from the fading Taro leaf in the setting light

Taro stem and Plumeria in small vase

Be well all and enjoy the weekend

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QMS's picture

@janis b

look like a map of life
very creative!
thanks

edited to add something green

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janis b's picture

@QMS

Isn't it always fascinating to see something expansive in what a single leaf or drop of water reveals.

I hope Spring is showing itself.

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janis b's picture

@janis b

with the addition of Green Tambourine.

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QMS's picture

@janis b

the retuning of the greenery
is enchanting

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truth is considered foreign influence, world peace is a threat to national security

dystopian's picture

@QMS Always loved that song... about the dude with the goldtop Les Paul in the vid... note nearing the end he actually pretends (it's lip-synched) to intonate notes with right hand tapping, which he likely actually really did. Quite an early example of that in pop music. But wait, there's more. There is a vid at utube where you can see him play a little more rambunctious guitar. Black Betty by Ram Jam is also Bill Bartlet on guitar! Which is actually some reasonably snappy stuff in itself.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I_2D8Eo15wE

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We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.
Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better.
both - Albert Einstein

Socialprogressive's picture

@QMS
It's been a long time since I've heard Green Tambourine.

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Socialprogressive's picture

@janis b
Love both shots. Nice lighting, color and patterns on the Taro leaf and interesting perspective on the Plumeria.

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dystopian's picture

@janis b Awesome pics Janis! Great light, great shapes! Beautiful!

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We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.
Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better.
both - Albert Einstein

dystopian's picture

Hi all, hey SP! Hope it's all good out there!

Awesome photos SP! Great pics of great birds! One of the loudest things I ever heard (besides a Uriah Heep show in a small theater in '71) was a flock of 166 Lilac-crowned Parrots flying over to a roost. It was deafening, you could not speak with someone next to you. Was down in Nayarit.

Perhaps of some interest regarding Red-crowned Parrot. They are endemic to far northeastern Mexico ONLY. They are not even found in southern Mexico, or the central plateau. Small numbers were believed to have colonized the Rio Grande areas along river in the 1980's. As did Green Parakeet, a big Mourning Dove sized parakeet found in NE Mexico.

Fair numbers of Red-crowns were released or escaped in south Florida, and in Los Angeles. The LA population exploded. They are common there now, there are roosts in the hundreds. There is a webpage called LA Parrot watch or somesuch. The hunting pressure for cage bird trade decimated the wild populations in NE Mexico. There are now believed to be more Red-crowns living in metro socal, than in their original wild native habitats in NE Mexico. So a rare case of when something taken out of its natural habitat, thrived elsewhere, and ended up being a major critical gene reservoir for the species.

Research done on them shows they are eating almost entirely non-native species. Which means they are not competing with any native species for limited resources. The dizzying array of botanic offerings in LA and socal are apparently quite to their liking.

Fantastic photos! Thanks for sharing! And hosting!

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We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.
Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better.
both - Albert Einstein

Socialprogressive's picture

@dystopian
We have flocks of Red-crowned and Lilac-crowned scattered around San Diego county. The largest flock I've seen was probable around 70-80 birds. I've seen small flocks of parrots in the SF bay area. I was surprised to see them that far north.

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dystopian's picture

@Socialprogressive @Socialprogressive Hi SP, I think most of the parrots in San Fran are Mitred or Red-masked Parakeet. Which is a bigger parakeet, formerly called Mitred Conure, e.g., not the big Amazona genus parrots. There may be some of those but most is the Mitred or Red-masked. Also Monk (Quaker) Parakeet is established in some big cities across the U.S., as is the bird formerly known as Peach-faced Lovebird in the Phoenix area in AZ. There are Mitred and or Red-masked around L.A. in decent numbers too.

Here are a couple of the pertinent links...

https://moorelab.oxy.edu/research/free-flying-los-angeles-parrot-project

https://www.californiaparrotproject.org/

Thanks again for the awesome photos!

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We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.
Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better.
both - Albert Einstein

Socialprogressive's picture

@dystopian
and links, dystopian. Somewhere I have a photo I took of the parrot/parakeet I saw in the bay area. I've been looking around for it but as of yet have not found it. The search continues.

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dystopian's picture

okie dokie Wink

one of my favorite birds, Green Kingfisher, which are dinky pint-sized compared to Belted Kingfisher.
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another fav... Green Jay - in the U.S. a south Texas endemic.
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And from Harbor Pk. in L.A., a Green Heron complete with trash, a natural LA city park habitat.
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Don't have a handy Green Parakeet pic, sorry...

Once in south Texas Mrs. dysto and I saw Green Heron, Green Jay, Green Kingfisher and Green Parakeet all in one day. And a Black-throated Green Warbler to boot. Smile

Have good ones all! Enjoy your greens... Janis should be along any time to blow our greens away. Wink

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We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.
Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better.
both - Albert Einstein

Socialprogressive's picture

@dystopian
We get the Belted Kingfishers here. The females have the brown feathers on their chest instead of the males like the Green Kingfisher. I've seen Belted Kingfishers beat a fish they've caught against a tree branch before swallowing it. Do you know if the Green Kingfisher do that too? I'm guessing that they do it to break up the bones to make it easier to swallow and digest.

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dystopian's picture

@Socialprogressive yeah SP, all the kingfishers do that... they want them to quit swimming around before they get in there! Wink The spines in particular on fishes fins are dangerous and they can't be opening them up and locking them in place INSIDE the bird. Have seen pics of a couple examples when a bird swallowed too fast before fish was dead and the bird ended up dead too. One was a Great Blue Heron with a catfish, another with an eel or somesuch.

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We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.
Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better.
both - Albert Einstein

janis b's picture

@dystopian

as they change constantly from sun-lit to cloud-lit. I'll post a photo of them later as the day progresses.

Cheers, dystopian!

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janis b's picture

@janis b @dystopian

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Socialprogressive's picture

@janis b
If so, nice catch.

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dystopian's picture

@janis b please no more calls folks, we have a winner! Yes it is Janis and Green Jay for the win! Wink

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We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.
Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better.
both - Albert Einstein

janis b's picture

@dystopian

It's also very beautiful.

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orlbucfan's picture

never disappoint! Smile The Green Heron plus LA trash, what a statement! LOL. The visuals are great! janis' second pic looks like a surrealistic painting. We get the Jays around here, but any parrots would be in So. FL if a hurricane and/or idiot biped frees them. They are not native here. The tunes are ABFAB!! Lemon Pipers--wowsers, I haven't heard that one in decades! I always liked the old, original FMac much, much better than the Buckingham-Nicks version. Anywho, humid and 90s in east central FL--yeck! Hope all is well! REC'D!!

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Inner and Outer Space: the Final Frontiers.

Socialprogressive's picture

@orlbucfan
While I don't want 90° temps I won't mind temps in the mid 70s. We've had very few days like that this winter which is unusual.

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janis b's picture

@orlbucfan

I enjoy your participation, thank you.

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Lookout's picture

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https://ebird.org/species/oltpar1
The clarity of your photos are amazing. I got to see but not photograph a green jay in the yucatan.
Rare except where abundant...
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“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”

Socialprogressive's picture

@Lookout
I like the coloring on the Green Jay. Very colorful. What a great opportunity for you to see one.
Thanks for the photos and link on the Olive-throated parakeet, and for all the work you do for the weekly watch.

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janis b's picture

@Lookout

The Parakeets in the soft, misty-looking light are beautiful.

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