the ABCs of Birds **P**

[jeanne]

What a cutie

[Donna]

And one of my favourite webcam pictures
greetings Aafke

I wish we knew where Chayton was these days. Thanks Aafke, he's your boy!

[Paul Hamilton]

P is for Parakeet (Melopsittacus undulatus)
Habitat includes the computer keyboard, windowsill, and an artificial tree consisting of a bamboo trellis with a ficus plant.  Food consists of pellets, seeds, vegetables, and whatever he can snatch from your plate when you aren't looking.  Also enjoys bathing in one's glass of ice water (see below).  Expresses affection by grooming your hair and offering you regurgitated food.  Large number of calls, including "good bird", "chirp!", "Fidget bird", "I love you", and the ever-popular, "I think that's enough now."

Paul

[schlaf374]

Plymouth Barred Rock
Prolific egg layer till she reaches Henopause.
Beside worms, wiilling to  eat almost anything you are eating.
Loves dirt barhs, having her head scratched, comb and wattle rubbed, sitting on your lap or perch and watching  TV( not too spoiled).
Makes a great pet, gentle but willing to be feisty if needed.

[dale]

Paul, That yellow feather cocktail looks powerful!!

Linda - a genuine highlight of falcon-watching weekends was hen-feeding. Here's another -

dale

[gayle]

Ptarmigan

I want to re-visit ptarmigans!  These members of the grouse family are most well adapted for their surroundings.    The Willow Ptarmigan and her chicks  and the Rock Ptarmigans are so well camouflaged they are difficult to see in their surroundings in Denali National Park.  The mounted specimen at the Arctic Audubon in Fairbanks shows how the birds turn completely white in winter and are virtually invisible in the snow.  The last photograph shows the feathered feet, a necessary adaptation to Alaska’s cold.

Gayle

[gayle]

Prairie Falcon

The Prairie Falcon is about the same size as the peregrine, but is  more drab and frankly not as beautiful!  Its range is in the west, roughly west of the Rockies.  It prefers open areas.  I have seen one twice in the northern part of California's Central Valley.  In the photograph below, look to the right and slightly above the topmost guano stain!  The second image from Wikipedia shows what it actually looks like!

Gayle

[gayle]

Blacksmith Plover

The Blacksmith Plover is a sub-Saharan African bird.  It is strikingly beautiful with is bold black and white coloration.  It is found at ponds ,eating worms, insects and small crustaceans,  It is so named because its song resembles the sound of metal being hit.  Images are screen captures from Nkorho cam.

Gayle

[gayle]

Western Snowy Plover

More plovers!  The Snowy Plover is a bird of concern for Northern Californians.  It is listed as a threatened species.It nests right on the beach and is at risk by every passing hiker, dog or horse.  During nesting season, hundreds of volunteers man the beaches to protect the nests.  To read about measures being taken see:

  http://www.nps.gov/pore/naturescience/birds_snowyplover.htm 

or :

 http://www.nps.gov/goga/planyourvisit/upload/sb-plight_web.pdf

Gayle

[gayle]

Phalarope

I have long been curious about phalaropes since I read Paton’s seminal novel about South Africa and apartheid, Too Late the Phalarope, as a child, although I no longer remember the significance of the bird in the title.  If anyone remembers it, I would love to know.

Phalaropes are small, about 8 inches, pelagic birds with lobed toes.  The Red Phalarope shows up on California beaches.  I have seen the Red-necked phalaropes feeding in close association with humpback whales in Southeast Alaska.  They grab the leftover bits from the whales’ feeding lunges.

You can read about this bird’s feeding habits by creating vortexes here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phalarope

Gayle

[Patti from Kentucky]

Since Gayle put the idea in my head, I thought I'd add to the collection of plovers with this Black-bellied Plover, who is busy molting out of his breeding plumage.  We took this photo in Rhode Island in August, when this bird was on his way south, presumably, for the winter.

[dale]

The plovers are all beautiful.

PRAIRIE CHICKEN, people!!!

Wikipedia: "The Greater Prairie Chicken, Tympanuchus cupido, is a large bird in the grouse family. This North American species was once abundant, but has become extremely rare or extinct over much of its range due to habitat loss. There are current efforts to help this species gain the numbers that it once had. One of the most famous aspects of these creatures is the mating ritual called booming."

dale

[dale]

since Scratch ended up in "P" for Plymouth Barred Rock,

here's one more of Herself:

[Dumpsterkitty]

I spotted this one browsing through some blog bookmarks.  This fellow, Bob Aek, is doing a Big Bird Year.  He blogged about finding these Pink footed geese in New Brunswick, Canada

   

His blog is interesting reading!

Ei

[schlaf374]

since Scratch ended up in "P" for Plymouth Barred Rock,

here's one more of Herself:

Although Dale doesn't mention it, her attachment is a beautiful charcoal rendition of a picture I sent her!