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This little guy was in my yard this morning

beefheart

beefheart

Ice Cream for Crow?
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In Phoenix, about 30 years ago, about 20 peach faced lovebirds (AKA Rosy Faced Lovebirds) escaped from an aviary. It turns out that the hot desert is a perfect place for these little guys, and they adapted quite well. They are originally natives to SW Africa and reside mostly in Angola, Namibia and S. Africa. There are now thousands of them in the valley of the sun. In my neighborhood, they are everywhere, but they are just a blur, they fly pretty high and make a lot of noise, I rarely see them up close. I've tried setting out feeders, but they get taken over by nasty birds and mourning doves and African doves. Early this morning, around 7 am, it was already above 90 degrees (110 now), and I noticed that a flock of 5 flew into my Arborvitae tree. I tried to get pics with my cell phone, but no luck, and they flew away. I went back inside and got the good DSLR and the big lens. Fortunately, a few of them came back, and after adjusting the focus so that everything was in focus, rather than what was closest, I got a few good pics.

I love these little guys, enjoy:

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HIP56948 said:
Quite handsome guys! I had no idea that Arizona had such birds. True, accidentally but very cool!
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They love to nest in the big saguaro cacti.
 
beefheart said:
They love to nest in the big saguaro cacti.
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Beautiful. I so love to see birds in their natural habitat instead of a cage. Thank you for posting.
 
Lovebug said:
Beautiful. I so love to see birds in their natural habitat instead of a cage. Thank you for posting.
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Well, their real natural habitat is about 10,000 miles away.... :)
 
Lovebug said:
As long as they are not caged.
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The good news is that they fit well into the habitat and aren't destructive to other species. If you ever go to Hawaii, you find out that there are so many non native species that have really harmed the habitat, the koki frog, the wild pigs and the mongoose. I've seen all of them, they do a lot of harm.
 
beefheart said:
The good news is that they fit well into the habitat and aren't destructive to other species. If you ever go to Hawaii, you find out that there are so many non native species that have really harmed the habitat, the koki frog, the wild pigs and the mongoose. I've seen all of them, they do a lot of harm.
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Agreed. Constrictors in Fl, Kudzu, Japanese beetles ( my arch enemy at the moment), the list goes on.
 
Lovebug said:
Agreed. Constrictors in Fl, Kudzu, Japanese beetles ( my arch enemy at the moment), the list goes on.
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The green tree snake has killed off so many species of birds in Guam, and, its poisonous...
 
Awesome pics and awesome birds, thanks!

Lovebug said:
Beautiful. I so love to see birds in their natural habitat instead of a cage. Thank you for posting.
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Not sure if this counts, but I used to keep my garage door propped open with a toolbox, and a couple years ago I noticed a nest inside the garage on a shelf with four little eggs in it. Some Carolina Chickadees had found an excellent cave to raise a family in. Once in a while I'd see the parents, and it would go something like this: It lands at the entrance with something in its beak, sees me, chirps really loud, and flies away (trying to get me to chase it away from the nest). A few seconds later its head pokes out from behind a box to check on me. After it sees I'm not chasing, it hops out on the floor well into my view, hop-spins 180 degrees several times while chirping loudly (to really get my attention this time), flies back behind the box, and peeks out to check on me again. After confirming a second time that I'm still not chasing, it hops toward the nest in small increments, each time stopping to "test" me again with another loud chirp and wait-n-see. Then it reaches the nest and the chicks erupt with something that sounds like Saturn Missiles going off in the distance. Over time both mom and dad got accustomed to me being there, so they'd only "test" me once or twice before heading to the nest without much concern. One time when I tried to get a pic of the chicks, my shadow covered the whole nest and all four chicks raised up with open mouths ready to be fed. I felt kinda bad trolling them like that, even though I didn't mean to hehe!
 
Binary_Digit said:
Awesome pics and awesome birds, thanks!


Not sure if this counts, but I used to keep my garage door propped open with a toolbox, and a couple years ago I noticed a nest inside the garage on a shelf with four little eggs in it. Some Carolina Chickadees had found an excellent cave to raise a family in. Once in a while I'd see the parents, and it would go something like this: It lands at the entrance with something in its beak, sees me, chirps really loud, and flies away (trying to get me to chase it away from the nest). A few seconds later its head pokes out from behind a box to check on me. After it sees I'm not chasing, it hops out on the floor well into my view, hop-spins 180 degrees several times while chirping loudly (to really get my attention this time), flies back behind the box, and peeks out to check on me again. After confirming a second time that I'm still not chasing, it hops toward the nest in small increments, each time stopping to "test" me again with another loud chirp and wait-n-see. Then it reaches the nest and the chicks erupt with something that sounds like Saturn Missiles going off in the distance. Over time both mom and dad got accustomed to me being there, so they'd only "test" me once or twice before heading to the nest without much concern. One time when I tried to get a pic of the chicks, my shadow covered the whole nest and all four chicks raised up with open mouths ready to be fed. I felt kinda bad trolling them like that, even though I didn't mean to hehe!
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We watched a bluebird nest many years ago. Sadly, we found the mom dead, yet dad was eagerly trying to take care of the lot. We helped out with meal worms around the box. They all survived.
 
Lovebug said:
We watched a bluebird nest many years ago. Sadly, we found the mom dead, yet dad was eagerly trying to take care of the lot. We helped out with meal worms around the box. They all survived.
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That's excellent. I assume all four (six) of mine survived, since they all disappeared from the nest on the same day. By the next spring I had an automatic garage opener, so I wasn't leaving it open anymore, but someone accidentally did one day and I had a Carolina Chickadee in there that refused to leave. I had to get a broom and slowly coax it out, and it let me get about four inches away before finally taking off. Since it was so brazen and fearless of me, I think that might've been one of the same parents coming back to the excellent cave they had found before. I would have gladly let them move back in, but I couldn't guarantee that everyone in the house would remember to leave the door open.
 
Love the photos beefheart, beautiful birds...thanks for sharing! :)
 
I very much enjoyed the photos and the story. Thank you!
 
beefheart said:
In Phoenix, about 30 years ago, about 20 peach faced lovebirds (AKA Rosy Faced Lovebirds) escaped from an aviary. It turns out that the hot desert is a perfect place for these little guys, and they adapted quite well. They are originally natives to SW Africa and reside mostly in Angola, Namibia and S. Africa. There are now thousands of them in the valley of the sun. In my neighborhood, they are everywhere, but they are just a blur, they fly pretty high and make a lot of noise, I rarely see them up close. I've tried setting out feeders, but they get taken over by nasty birds and mourning doves and African doves. Early this morning, around 7 am, it was already above 90 degrees (110 now), and I noticed that a flock of 5 flew into my Arborvitae tree. I tried to get pics with my cell phone, but no luck, and they flew away. I went back inside and got the good DSLR and the big lens. Fortunately, a few of them came back, and after adjusting the focus so that everything was in focus, rather than what was closest, I got a few good pics.

I love these little guys, enjoy:

View attachment 67286592

View attachment 67286593

View attachment 67286594

View attachment 67286595

View attachment 67286596
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When bio-invasion goes right. 50mm or 100mm fixed prime? Or did you even break out a 200mm monster?
 
beefheart said:
In Phoenix, about 30 years ago, about 20 peach faced lovebirds (AKA Rosy Faced Lovebirds) escaped from an aviary. It turns out that the hot desert is a perfect place for these little guys, and they adapted quite well. They are originally natives to SW Africa and reside mostly in Angola, Namibia and S. Africa. There are now thousands of them in the valley of the sun. In my neighborhood, they are everywhere, but they are just a blur, they fly pretty high and make a lot of noise, I rarely see them up close. I've tried setting out feeders, but they get taken over by nasty birds and mourning doves and African doves. Early this morning, around 7 am, it was already above 90 degrees (110 now), and I noticed that a flock of 5 flew into my Arborvitae tree. I tried to get pics with my cell phone, but no luck, and they flew away. I went back inside and got the good DSLR and the big lens. Fortunately, a few of them came back, and after adjusting the focus so that everything was in focus, rather than what was closest, I got a few good pics.

I love these little guys, enjoy:

View attachment 67286592

View attachment 67286593

View attachment 67286594

View attachment 67286595

View attachment 67286596
Click to expand...

The Western Coastal areas of LA County have been the new home for huge flocks of feral parakeets.
Same origin, same adaptation and same growth vectors.

It was wonderful to see flocks of these parakeets nesting and singing in the trees.
It's one of the things I miss about living by the ocean. They don't seem to have migrated East of downtown LA yet.
Maybe someday!
 
beefheart said:
The good news is that they fit well into the habitat and aren't destructive to other species. If you ever go to Hawaii, you find out that there are so many non native species that have really harmed the habitat, the koki frog, the wild pigs and the mongoose. I've seen all of them, they do a lot of harm.
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Feral hogs are a huge nuisance in East Texas.
 
Cardinal said:
When bio-invasion goes right. 50mm or 100mm fixed prime? Or did you even break out a 200mm monster?
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I used a zoom lens 55-250, not the best lens, but it does the trick, and it is stabilized. I had an amazing higher quality lens, but....my camera with the lens fell out of my carry-on bag as I was dragging it around LAX. When I found it missing, the flight was boarding, never did find it. Pity, as Kiluea volcano was spewing that weekend.

I have a 50 fixed, but it wouldn't get the close up, I also have an 18-55 and a 10-18. The birds were only about 18 feet up the tree, but I also was about 8 feet away from the tree, I didn't want to scare them away.
 
Just now, I heard one of the lovebirds making some really loud noise. It was in the tree and calling to its mate in a tree next door. The 250 mm lens really gets the shot.

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