Abandoning Logic

Parrots have been a part of my life for a long time.  I know them.  I know their squawks, whistles, and intense curiosity.   I failed in my job to find Kathie the Peach Faced lovebirds that have gone wild in Phoenix.  In fact, they have been colonizing and extending their range every year.  While they're not as invasive as say the European Starlings, they have not shown signs of decline. When Kathie and I arrived at Gilbert Ranch, I had known that several of the lovebirds lived here in this area. But I never heard their sounds.

We left with a very successful number count on birds, but Kathie and I are suckers for not stopping.  What else could we find?  We both had a free day to bird and from sunup to sundown we used it.  On our way home we stopped in Casa Grande to bird before heading back to Tucson.  Kathie mentioned a Monk parrot colony lived there.  But we needed to fill up the car with gas.  And we did so.  For those of you who may not know the name Monk parrot.....perhaps you'll recognize the Quaker parrot?  This parrot has become invasive in many parts of the country and today fly free and fancy.  And my family raised these birds growing up in Wisconsin.  All of our birds were raised from eggs....tube feeding and all:)  These curious parrots are mischievous and full of sass:)  One time I played a game with our "Monk" parrot.  I hated caging birds so I always left the door open so that if they wanted out, they could escape.  Anyhow, I pretended to sleep on the couch knowing full well that "Chuckie" would sneak out and climb up on me.  I kept my eye cracked open watching the little green bird walking across the floor towards me.  He then climbed up on my chest and started "preening" my face....and messing with my glasses.  When he began doing that, I woke up and he bit me on the lip and started laughing saying his name in that naughty whisper...."Chuckie.....hehehehehe...."  Parrots are smart and require lots of TLC.  So back to our story in Casa Grande, AZ.....

While Kathie was filling up the gas tank, I heard them.  They were loud and up in the trees around this wildlife refuge house!  But something even more unusual happened that I wasn't expecting.....an African Grey sounded from on top of an abandoned building.  There was a sexy whistle and I knew right away among all the Quaker/Monk chatter.......that we were dealing with something different.  Grabbing my camera bursting with rapid whistles back to the bird, I got this extremely intelligent parrot to come out into the open.....and that's when I saw not one but TWO different parrots!

Here's the evidence.  My mother also has an African Grey by the name of Tamara and she is one quick study. I taught her the tune to "Flipper" and "The Andy Griffith show" while I was doing dishes one day.  But this find floored me.  What in the world were THESE two birds doing here?  Quaker/Monk parrots are one thing......but an African Grey??!!!  And a Yellow Crowned parrot??!!!  The house was abandoned because it was all boarded up.  Kathie drove quickly up to my spot that I was observing.  If we saw the Monks, we could count them for EBIRD (because they were wild and the bird gurus would be okay with that logistical account.)  But not these two parrots. So I'll share my theory in just a moment.

This beauty decided to show his tail feathers:)

Red tail=Congo variety

And a little extra bit, the African Grey was sporting it's pretty red tail feathers(meaning that this was one happy parrot:) So while we didn't spot the Peach Faced Lovebirds.  We did find some incredibly dazzling parrots!  My theory?  Here it goes.  Kathie and I both drove around the perimeter to establish the high parrot chatter and perhaps see several monk parrots in the Aleppo pines.  But by this point, it had gotten too dark to investigate further and the Monks were settling down.  The parrots were all located near a wildlife refuge and my guess is that they had escaped or that these wild parrots were being fed by this refuge and living in the trees taking advantage of the free food and shelter. Many parrots have incredible intelligence.  The African Grey, for example, possesses the knowledge of a 5 year old kid.  But I'm thinking we are underestimating that intelligence factor for this bird.   But being opportunistic birds, they are able to figure out their situations and survive them.  This was a weird find but it was still cool.  The best part of the night?  Kathie and I ran to a golf course to count birds right at sunset.  Coyotes were howling near a wash and we were able to watch them find one another.  Birding/wildlife is rewarding in many ways.  I've lost so much weight walking and running to new destinations.  Plus I witness such incredible things.  I'll say it again....much better than TV:)  More tomorrow....