the ABCs of Birds **P**

[dale]

I would like to take this opportunity to say something I've never said here before...

PURPLE SWAMP HEN!!!

PUKEKO is the Maori name for the PURPLE SWAMP HEN
  
I took these in Rotorua, NZ, in a house's back yard and in a public park.

** to see mama PUKEKO holding bread in her foot and feeding her chick -- and to see the SIZE of that FOOT (both very cool), PLEASE check out the photo at this link:  
http://www.treknature.com/gallery/Oceania/New_Zealand/photo20112.htm

dale

[dale]

buncha PELICANS  from far away

Near Cape Town SA; I think this was at the Cape Flats Water Treatment (i.e., sewer) Works.

dale

[gayle]

Puffins

Puffins are members of the Auk family (alcids)  They are spectacular, dramatic looking pelagic birds.  They have colorful large bills, are stocky in build and have wings designed for swimming under water.  They breed on remote cliffs in borrows.  There are three species in the US.  Those of you in the east may have seen the Atlantic Puffin.  The Horned Puffin and the Tufted Puffin are resident in the North Pacific.  The southernmost breeding colony of tufted puffins is on the Farallone islands, 25 miles off San Francisco.  There have been about 160 puffins there for the last 20 years.

Gayle

[gayle]

Puffins

In actuality, puffins are not all that photogenic for the average birder. The glorious close-ups are usually taken from blinds.  The first photograph was made at the Marine Center in Seward, Alaska of an injured puffin and the two water shots, in the Aleution Islands.  The fourth is of a cliff on the Pribilof Islands where common murres, kittiwakes and puffins were nesting together.

Gayle

[gayle]

Galapagos Penguin

This penguin is endemic to the Galapagos and is the northern most of the penguin species.

Gayle

[gayle]

Black-footed penguin

This is an intimate look at a Black footed penguin at the Monterey Bay Aquarium.  You can view a live video cam at http://www.montereybayaquarium.org/efc/efc_splash/splash_cam.aspx

They are from South Africa, and oops, Dale, they are also known as Jackass Penguins.

Gayle

[dale]

Gayle, tufted puffin is WILD-looking. He could have it out with Darth Vader any day and probably win; especially if he gets extra credit points for his nicely alliterative name!

To quote Patti, I'll see your penguins and raise you one:
I already posted a few African PENGUIN shots from Boulders Beach SA (yes, under "J" for "Jackass") -
but here are FAIRY (LITTLE BLUE, Korora) PENGUINS - from NZ.
 

[gayle]

Pigeon Guillemot

Pigeon Guillemot

The pigeon guillemot is another member of the auk family.  Its range is in the Pacific from Kanchatka through  the Aleutians down along the California coast.    No, they do not normally sit on branches.  This is another injured bird from the Seward Marine Center,

Gayle

[gayle]

Pelican

Dale, and I will see your pelican and raise you one!  Here are a few more brown pelicans, from San Francisco Baylands, Galapagos, and Monterey.

Gayle

[Patti from Kentucky]

Wow, you chicks are on a roll tonight!  You collectively have saved me from having to dig through my Galapagos and New Zealand photo albums for the Pukeko and Penguins. 

OK...P is for Ptarmigan (and I don't know which one this is...maybe Willow Ptarmigan.  It was taken in Denali National Park, Alaska.

I think I have a slightly better shot elsewhere...need to dig around.

[Patti from Kentucky]

And P, of course, is for Peregrine Falcon (waiting for Donna and some more Kaver photos).

This is Rhea Mae from the 2006 Falcon Watchers Weekend.

[Patti from Kentucky]

Well...it may not be a better photo, but a cuteness alert may be in order.

This is a White-tailed Ptarmigan; we took the photos hiking in Glacier National Park.  The first is mother Ptarmigan, and the second are her two chicks, to whom Mom was clucking softly.

[Patti from Kentucky]

Prothonotary Warbler

It's one of my favorite birds; I saw it for the first time this past May on the shores of Lake Erie.  They were very active, foraging for insects all around, seemingly unfazed by all of the gawking humans.

[dale]

I'd love to see more pukeko.

and i LOVE ptarmigan-of-the-feathery-toes

That warbler is an unimaginably gorgeous color

[Patti from Kentucky]

The Pukeko may have to wait until tomorrow night; I've almost reached my bedtime...

But here's my final entry for the night (morning?): the Black-capped Parakeet.

I took this photo from a canopy tower in Peru.