. . . at the San Antonio Zoo
A few weeks back we made an impromptu visit to see our girl
and we took a trip to the zoo.
Unfortunately the butterfly house had not opened yet (sad face),
but, there was Lory Landing. . . as in heaven for me.
1. I love and adore birds. Doesn't matter what kind I love 'em all.
2. I used to have 8 birds at one time . . . 5 parakeets, a lovebird, a cockatiel and my favorite,
a mustache parakeet. My mustache would actually say, wanna go to mommy when I would walk
by his cage if he wanted to hang out with me. He was a very affectionate bird, and I had even trained
him to go potty on command.
3. When someone new would call the house, they almost always would ask me if I was at a zoo, haha!
There were certain times during the day that they would be chattier than others. Of course it it was dinner
time and my mustache didn't get some of what I had, he would let me know. And when we watched
TV at night, the louder it got, the louder the parakeets got. But, when I covered up the cage they would
get ready for bed.
4. We had just missed the feeding time for the birds, just my luck! And as they had full tummies, it was
nap time. I have to say that I was a lot horrified at the behavior of some of the kids toward these birds. It was a free flight area and I found the kids trying to kick the birds. Who lets their kids behave that way?
Oh yes, I spoke up!
5. In the photo below this lorikeet is pinning his eyes. It's when the bird dilates his pupils from
big to small and back to big again. All parrots do this when they are excited, but they will also do it
as an aggressive behavior to warn that they are a little irritated. My mustache would do this when he was
excited about food, or when he really didn't want to be picked up and would open his mouth to
warn me as well.
I miss terribly the pet store we had before we moved here. I could go and get my fix of
parrots and they had nicknamed me the "bird whisperer." I could always get one of the parakeets
to come to me, and when they are with a flock like that, they usually have no interest in humans.
I'm really thinking I would like to have another bird, probably a parakeet - they're easy and not
as needy (as in time) as bigger birds. Our very first bird we ever got was a parakeet, Liberty, and she would
lay on her side and sleep on my tummy.
I'm really hoping we get a chance to go back at feeding time so I can interact with them, and go to the
butterfly house. But I'm thinking my family will just have to drop me off and come back because I could
stay all day in just those two places.
Well, I hope you all have a great weekend...can you believe it's going to be March?
Love, Kim
sharing with Random Five Friday
21 comments:
They are so cute and colorful!!
Gorgeous birds! I love them, too. We had a rare opportunity to interact with them in an open air canopy at the Bird Park in Singapore. Once inside the net canopy, we could buy (of course) cups of nectar to feed Lorikeets. They would perch on you and sip. It was amazing. These are gorgeous photos!
And why am I {not} surprised that you are also a bird whisperer? :-D The bird photos are wonderful, the color so radiant and saturated.
Before retirement my husband and I bred and sold exotic birds for small pet shops and even a local zoo. we did allot of real rare species too, for 20 years or more.
the lori family was always my favorite-messy to keep but I just loved them. we specialized in the parakeet family and the mustache parakeet I believe would be the aleandrian-we loved them too-raised them from babies. they were so so intelligent as are most birds.
If I lived closer I would love to go with to visit birds and buttrflies-enjoy your weekend Kim
Gorgeous color and DOF!
You're an animal whisperer in all its forms. Love the images and hearing about the birds you had. Glad you spoke up about the kids, they need to learn early to treat animals with respect.
Thanks for the little bird lessons Kim. I love birds as well and this one's colors are striking. Happy Friday my friend.
Great post. Love all the color captures and facts about birds. Have a great weekend.
What a beautiful bird! Great close-ups. Hope the butterfly garden is open next time you visit.
Looks like you had a great time at the zoo! The bird is beautiful and Im glad you spoke up about those kids! Have a great weekend, and thanks for sharing!
The sleeping shot is adorable -- we had a couple of cockatiels way back when. Too many cats in the house now.
Amazing colors and detail!!
Love the photos, the details are amazing. Would love to have a bird but the cats would think I bought them a snack. Also, hubby won't hear of it.
The butterfly house is my favorite, Kim, maybe we can go together :)
What a gorgeous and colorful bird. Your shots are awesome. I don't blame you for saying something either about the kids. I can't understand what thrill kids or people get out of taunting animals/birds. They should be ashamed of themselves.
I'm not much of a bird fan but your images could definitely change my mind. What gorgeous colors - so iridescently wondrous.
I'm with Brenda! Amaaaaaazing colors and detail!
What an amazing gift you have with birds. Those are some beauties that you captured.
Kim, I loved this post. Like you, we are bird lovers….well actually animal lovers in general. I've had parakeets, cockatiels and a wonderful Amazon named Pedro. They're just so much fun. I could watch them all day. We have aviaries on our patio now…..one with budgies and the other with cockatiels. Thanks for sharing!!
The birds are adorable. I love birds too. We have 2 cockatiels and a Rosie Bourkes Parakeet. It is hard to talk on the phone sometimes :)
A slightly different variety of Rainbow Lorikeet run wild in their hundreds around our town, Most days we hear of see them, sometimes up fairly close too. They are very noisy when together as a group. I hope the butterfly house is open next time you visit....
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