Birds, bugs and frog’s eggs
Another early start to the day on the property yielded a Yellow Warbler (maybe even one from the Pioneer Valley), butterflies, dragonflies, spiders, frog eggs, nice plants I hadn’t yet photographed, as well as an array of large birds – again. I loved seeing the big red and the red/blue dragonflies every morning at breakfast.
A little while later, a group of Mealy Parrots flew in. These are less common parrots, but I think we saw them a couple of times. Identifying attributes are the white eye ring on a solid green head.
This was the only time I saw the Toucans eating anything. It looks like berries and some other plant substance. (They will also eat insects, lizards, eggs and even small birds, but I didn’t see any of that.) They came and went in their tree of choice then moved to the Macaws’ tree until they realized how unruly their neighbors were to become.
The Macaws arrived – at one point there were 3 pairs in this tree. One moment they could be all lovey-dovey and the next all hell might break loose.
The first pair landed on the right side of the tree – all was well!
The next pair flew in on the other side of the tree. At first they seemed to be all snuggly with one another – maybe too lovey-dovey for the mate – and it turned into a squabble, as it often does with these parrots. The poor Toucan hanging out downstairs seemed to be saying: Are you kidding? Can you cool it? Another couple came in and the first couple fell to the Toucan’s branch. (He made a hasty get-away!) I think it was now the first couple who were snuggling down below when the upper pair started squabbling till they too fell from the tree, knocking the others off. Frankly, I have no idea what was going on – hard to keep track of these crazy birds! But it was fun to watch. These are sequential pictures but I totally lost track of which birds were which.
The Macaws usually fly in pairs and are monogamous for life, but it doesn’t seem to be without its challenges for them any more than for us! (I read online that, though they mate for life, they sometimes live in a threesome till they settle down with just one mate. That may explain why I sometimes see 3 flying together, and maybe it explains a portion of the squabbling as well.)
After all that commotion, the last picture for that morning is again a White-crowned Parrot in the Balsa tree, much more dignified and quieter than its neighbors.
