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Seabird paradise (1 Viewer)

slipe

Member
I live on the water in Florida and there is constant entertainment out the window. My computer room looks out on the yard and water and I can watch the interaction.

I have two large poles beyond the dock and they are seldom empty. One is a little higher than the other and there is a constant fight for dominance. A bird of higher status will drive another bird off the taller pole, and it in turn will drive the next senior bird off the next pole. The loser gets to poop on my boat. The only birds that don’t seem to understand pecking order are the cormorants. They often fight over the poles and fall in the water. Unlike other birds their wings get wet, and neither can then go back to the tall poles – opting instead for something lower.

I have a large pelican that considers himself the king of the tall pole. One day he came around the corner almost a block away and headed straight for HIS pole. He was almost there when he realized it wasn’t a large seagull but a big osprey sitting on the pole. His emergency egress was comical.

There is a pecking order in the yard as well. I feed a heron, egret and snowy egret (Bubba, Zsa Zsa and Herbie). Zsa Zsa and Herbie are happy to just drive the others back until feeding is over and then they clean out the yard of intruders. But Bubba will give up food to make sure any heron that lands in the yard gets driven off. He struts across the yard with his wings out and his wing-tips dragging the ground. When the other heron takes off Bubba is right on his tail. They disappear out of sight with lots of squawking.

I had several flocks of Quakers and a flock of conures that regularly flocked to my feeder. But Bubba stays in the yard most of the time now and they won’t come near him. Herons seem to eat anything. He had a 40 minute fight with a 5 foot blacksnake in my neighbor’s yard. My neighbors said the outcome was uncertain for a while with the big snake coiled around Bubba, but he eventually prevailed and ate the snake. The snake usually stayed in a pile of rocks in front of my house and I was sorry to see him go. I saw Bubba kill a rat and eat it. A Quaker would probably be a morsel for him and the little birds know it.

The Wal-Mart bird feeders turned out to be a good choice. For some reason the doves can’t stand on the feeders. They would empty the feeders in a very short time if they could. A dozen or so usually stay under the feeders when other birds are eating to get leftovers that fall from sloppy or picky eaters.

I have to be careful to not feed the storks. Start feeding one and you have a dozen in the yard before you know it. There is one I feed sometimes, but I stop giving him food when the others show up. They bully the Zsa Zsa but won’t go near Bubba. I get a lot of ibis in the yard. One has a bad limp and I try to get food to him, but except for the gimpy one the ibis ignore me.

My neighbor’s dog Lucy doesn’t tolerate birds. In the winter she runs after them full tilt, but in the summer she just herds them off the property. Lucy isn’t out that often, but the birds have to be careful.

Sorry about the quality of some of the shots. Most of them are on a hard drive that is no longer on my computer, so I had to make screenshots from pbase to get them back. Lots of JPG compressions. Some shots around the house with a few more birds: http://www.pbase.com/slipe/house&page=all
 

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Welcome to BF. Look forward to hearing more stories about the birds in your area and seeing your photos, especially of the birds you have given names to (makes them part of the family).

Ann Chaplin
 
To me your conures look like Monk Parakeets and Black-hooded Parakeets. Are there any other parrots/parakeets which come to your feeders? It would be interesting to visit your yard, it sounds like you do have a veritable "bird sanctuary"!

I am not certain which species of bird you refer to as "Quakers"?

I am looking forward to hearing more of your stories and seeing more of your photos.
 
Michael, I do not think "Quakers" would be a duck or goose because of the quote:

"A Quaker would probably be a morsel for him and the little birds know it."

Apparently, referring to the Great Blue Heron being a threat to the "Quakers".
 
They are known as Quaker parrots or Quaker parakeets or Monk parrots. The most common name down our way is Quaker parrot. I know several people who have them as pets and they are quite loveable. http://www.geocities.com/Athens/5484/quakers.htm

Quakers are illegal to own or import in about 16 states. They have an unusual nesting strategy that allows them to colonize places with winters where it is normally too cold for exotic birds. They have colonies around New York City for instance.

The larger ones with the black hoods and red feet are nanday conures. I thought the Quakers were noisy until the nandays showed up. http://images.google.com/imgres?img...anday+conure&start=40&hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&sa=N
 
Sounds like a nice spot. Re the names, many parrot species go by more than one. Quaker Parrot is the name used in the pet trade for the species birders call Monk Parakeet (Myiopsitta monachus). The other species in Slipe's photo, Nanday Parakeet (Nandayus nenday) -- the name used by Clements and by Sibley & Monroe -- is also known as Nanday Conure, Black-hooded Conure, Black-hooded Parakeet, Black-headed Parakeet, and Black-headed Conure. Both species are native to South America but escaped and are well established in Florida. Glen
 
The line between parrots, parakeets, and conures doesn’t seem very well defined in that size range. The nandays are pretty large to be called parakeets IMO. My African Grey stays in a screened porch near the feeder. The Quakers never bothered her, but she was agitated for a while when the nandays showed up.
 
slipe said:
The line between parrots, parakeets, and conures doesn’t seem very well defined in that size range. The nandays are pretty large to be called parakeets IMO.

You're right, the lines are not clear at all. Some species called parrots are smaller than others called parakeets. Species called parakeets by ornithologists and birders are often called conures in the pet trade. The name conure is generally not used by ornithologists and birders. And the small Australian species commonly called Parakeet in the pet trade is called Budgerigar by ornithologists and birders (also established in Florida). Glen
 
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