Parrots and Spring: Love is in the air...

[Mirta]

Hi! Almost 40 burrowing parrots are visiting my neighborhood every morning, trying to burrow their nest in a brick wall. Those are pictures I have taken to show you how beautiful they are, and how spring fill with love their days 
They are very noisy, but I love them anyway.
Only I´m feeling a little  Sunday´s morning at 0500 AM, when they start to shout...
Hope you enjoy them
Mirta

[Donna]

OMG....how cute are they??? I think I would love waking up hearing them.....I think.
Thanks Mirta...great pics.

Donna

[Wing Goose]

Hi Mirta,  
The parrots are beautiful.  They look so cuddly.  Are they friendly or skittish if you come near them?  How many babies hatch in their clutch?  Thank you for sharing them.
Lola
 

[Kris G.]

  for sharing the pics with us! 
                        Kris

[valhalla]

I only have a few cardinals and lots of sparrows left - everyone else has migrated, so this is a nice treat while I wait for the Eagles to return.

[Donna]

Hi! Almost 40 burrowing parrots are visiting my neighborhood every morning, trying to burrow their nest in a brick wall. Those are pictures I have taken to show you how beautiful they are, and how spring fill with love their days 
They are very noisy, but I love them anyway.
Only I´m feeling a little  Sunday´s morning at 0500 AM, when they start to shout...
Hope you enjoy them
Mirta

Mirta, do the Parrots make the holes or are the holes already there? I remember Ei sent a pic of a bird nest in a wall..(hang on, let me find it)  Ok, I uploaded the pic, which I think is  but I  that pic, (thanks Ei). Also, in your last pic, is that 2 adults or adult and baby? Hope you send more pics Mirta.. 

[Kris G.]

I only have a few cardinals and lots of sparrows left - everyone else has migrated, so this is a nice treat while I wait for the Eagles to return.

I have Mourning Doves (LOTS AND LOTS), few Sparrows, few Goldfinches but my Downy Woodpeckers have returned to feed. 

[Helen in MD]

I only have a few cardinals and lots of sparrows left - everyone else has migrated, so this is a nice treat while I wait for the Eagles to return.

You should have doves, titmice, chickadees, house finch, goldfinch all visiting your feeders.  And robins are eating all the berries on my dogwoods plus a scarlet tanager has been visiting my birdbath.  And keep your hummingbird feeder up to feed and entice migrating birds.

[valhalla]

You should have doves, titmice, chickadees, house finch, goldfinch all visiting your feeders.  And robins are eating all the berries on my dogwoods plus a scarlet tanager has been visiting my birdbath.  And keep your hummingbird feeder up to feed and entice migrating birds.

Thanks Helen!  The hummingbird feeder is still up and will remain up until you tell me to take it down.  Seriously, all of the goldfinch are gone.  As for the house finch,  only a very small handfull remain and the titmice and chickadees are also in small numbers (I know they will grow soon).  I guess we are in a lull period.  Haven't seen a robin in weeks.  A squirrel is visiting my birdbath 

[Donna]

The Starlings are in full-bloom...yesterday I stepped out onto my front porch and directly across the street is a tree with little red berries. Well..I swear over 100 starlings flew out. It's an amazing sight and happens every year. Last year the trees around here didn't change colors until the end of Oct and we were raking in Nov. We are also blessed with those huge Black crows.  . I think they are neat looking.

[Mirta]

Mirta, do the Parrots make the holes or are the holes already there? I remember Ei sent a pic of a bird nest in a wall..(hang on, let me find it)  Ok, I uploaded the pic, which I think is  but I  that pic, (thanks Ei). Also, in your last pic, is that 2 adults or adult and baby? Hope you send more pics Mirta.. 
[/quote]

Nop, In that wall, they are trying to make bigger the preexistent holes, but they can´t. On natural cliffs they can, that is why the common name is burrowing parrots. Their nests are very deep and big, more than 1 meter deep.

Here we live at 180 km from the biggest parrot breeding colony on the world. There are more than 30,000 nest of burrowing parrots in about 12 km of cliffs. Youo can visit this link in english to know more aboout them : <http://www.orn.mpg.de/masello/PAGES/home-english2.html>
Most of the parrots here were born there, in El Condor Colony. It is an amazing sight when early in the morning or at sunset thousands of parrot are close of the nests!

Mirta 

[Donna]

Nop, In that wall, they are trying to make bigger the preexistent holes, but they can´t. On natural cliffs they can, that is why the common name is burrowing parrots. Their nests are very deep and big, more than 1 meter deep.

Here we live at 180 km from the biggest parrot breeding colony on the world. There are more than 30,000 nest of burrowing parrots in about 12 km of cliffs. Youo can visit this link in english to know more aboout them : <http://www.orn.mpg.de/masello/PAGES/home-english2.html>
Most of the parrots here were born there, in El Condor Colony. It is an amazing sight when early in the morning or at sunset thousands of parrot are close of the nests!

Since 1998, we have been conducting a study of the breeding biology of Burrowing Parrots at the largest and most important colony of this species. The colony is located west of the village El Cóndor (or Villa Marítima El Cóndor or Balneario Massini or La Boca), close to the Río Negro
Lighthouse (41º3'S 62º48'W), 30km southeast from Viedma, in the province of Río Negro, Patagonia, Argentina. The colony covers 12km of sandstone cliffs. The habitat in the surroundings of the colony is primarily Patagonian steppe.

During 2003, we finished counting the nests in the colony: we found 35000 active nests along the 12km of Atlantic coast. Remarkably, after an extensive literature review on parrots breeding biology, this population was found to be the largest known colony of Psittaciformes (parrots & cockatoos) in the world.

Thanks Mirta, good info there and I LOVE this pic.........so many, I'd be in heaven seeing that.

[Mirta]

Those are pictures I´ve taken from my house roof.
Thay are only just a part of the hundreds that fill our sky these days
 
Mirta

[Paul Hamilton]

Wow!  They must be amazing to watch.  Burrowing parrots are called Patagonian Conures here and often kept as pets -- beautiful, but I have heard that if you have one, you don't need an alarm clock.  I've enjoyed watching wild parrot flocks in San Francisco, but the burrowing parrot colony must be incredible to experience.

Paul

[valhalla]

Thanks Mirta - Vey Cool!