sorry that didn't work right.

Here is a link that might be useful:

and the other pic

Here is a link that might be useful:

It's hard to tell its size from the photos, but I'm going to guess maybe an Amazon parrot, possibly a blue fronted Amazon. You can Google images. They seem to vary in coloring.

I'd like to find one of those in my backyard!
Marcia

N&V, I'm pretty sure what you have there is an orange-winged amazon parrot. (The orange wing only shows in flight). I believe they not an uncommon amazon to be "on the loose" in south Florida. Of course, they aren't native, but there are quite a few parrots and macaws living wild down there, and through other areas of the state. Orange wings seem to be one of the types spotted fairly often.

If you notice, the bird has yellow directly below his eye, blue over it, and a spot of yellow on top of his head. That looks like what I'm seeing in your pictures.

I'd love to have another amazon...but then again...a lot of work and a lot of noise. Maybe it's more fun to watch them outside, even though they are exotics. Sure is a beauty!

Check out the link below & see what you think.

Marcia

Here is a link that might be useful:

And the conclusion is: orange winged amazon. I saw a little bit of orange/red on his wings, which didn't show in the pics. The clincher was the head shot when I googled him.

He was a big guy, tilly hawk sized _ at least a foot long and fat _ and tumbling over head first when he tried to perch on some of the weak limbs. I took a little video of him doing that, which I'll try to find time to edit and post here. It was pretty cute. He would flip over completely and didn't seem to mind.

And he did start to rip at the tree itself, which needs a good pruning, but I had kind of figured on doing that myself.

Thanks for the help identifying him. I googled and googled when I should have been working, but didn't find him.

Susannah

Glad I could help. Amazons are generally pretty good sized parrots, rather chunky and heavy for their height. They are very clever and resourceful, and have great balance, which enables them to climb around upside down and do all sorts of gymnastics. Mine used to hang from the top of his cage by one foot, sort of spinning around and shrieking. He sang opera, too. In addiition to saying quite a few things. He was a green-cheeked amazon (also called a red-headed Mexican amazon). Most of the amazons have similar personalities and behaviors.

Enjoy your visitor. He will like any fruits and nuts you put out, and will also eat pasta and black beans, or other legumes. Cooked. If he is an escaped pet, you might be able to coax him down, but there are so many escapees in south Florida that he could also just as easily be a bird born in the wild down there.

Marcia

Another Marcia here--I never had an Amazon but own an African grey parrot. I've never seen a parrot in my backyard (living in PA) and think that would be a real treat!

(I've been reading the FL gardening forum because my husband and I hope to buy a home to spend the winters (at first) and I don't know anything about gardening in FL. I'm an avid gardener here so I'm looking forward to being able to grow plants there that can only be houseplants here! I know you have your gardening challenges as well.)

Marcia in PA

Yep, that certainly describes what he was doing on the poinciana Marcia-manature. He was fun to watch. My boyfriend has been hoping he'd come back all morning, but no sign so far. He was in the tree twice yesterday.

And marcia in Pa, watching the wildlife down here is one of the joys of Florida life. The feral parrots are noisy, but I think they're pretty cool anyway.

Hi and welcome, Marcia in PA

It's good to have you here and we value any input you have.

Let us know as you get ready to visit and move down to Florida; as you already know, this is the Forum With The Mostest and we love to help with our newcomers.

Susie

Thank you for the kind welcome. I didn't mean to hijack your thread, Susannah. Parrots are entertaining birds. I hope you have more (nice) close encounters with yours.

We are coming down to look at houses the beginning of June, around the Venice/North Port/Englewood area. I would love to have a palm tree in my yard! I'm coveting a Bismarck palm :-) We spent a week at Fort Myers Beach this winter and I fell in love with them.
Marcia in PA

Hi, Marcia In PA! Welcome to the forum. I had an African grey once, too...such a funny bird! He would do the microwave, the telephone, the doorbell, and all sorts of mechanical sounds, in addition to talking up a storm. We had 46 birds at one point, as I handraised lovebirds and conures for sale. And we had our own pets, which included the grey, a yellow-lored amazon, a green-cheeked amazon, a green-cheeked conure, a jenday conure, and a nanday conure. One day I realized I was drowning in feathers!

My larger birds went into breeding programs, which is where they really needed to be, and the smaller ones went to very large and beautiful outdoor aviaries. Now we just do cats and dogs.

I used to live in PA, too...in fact, my son was born in Pittsburgh, and my father was from there, as well, though I'm a Florida cracker.

Hope you have a good time here. When you arrive, you will find out just how very different gardening in the Sunshine State is from anywhere else on earth. But there are lots of good folks here who will be happy to help with advice and friendship.

Marcia (In FL)

Hi Marcia from PA I'm an Englewoodian by way of Rehoboth Beach DE. You will LOVE gardening here, twice the season as PA.
And if you are a snowbird you can grow tomatoes in Florida from Sept-April and then go north and grow them from June-Sept.
If we get enough GardenWebbers in the area someday we can have our very own plant party and trade.

Denise

Thank you again! Gardeners (from anywhere) are the nicest people!

Marcia, our grey does all kinds of sounds, too, and whistles and talks. He is quite an entertainer. Also, quite a chewer, as our woodwork will attest. He likes to sneak off when we're not looking and find some tasty baseboard to rip apart! Also, my youngest son was born in Pittsburgh, too, although we live in Indiana County.

Denise, I'd love to be part of a plant party. I'll keep in touch via GW if/when we buy a home in the area!
Marcia in PA

Marcia in PA...don't even TELL me your son was born at Allegheny General! Boy, do I remember that place, even though it was nearly 38 years ago when MY son was born there! (I'm OOOLLLD!)

When will you know if you are moving down?

Marcia in FL

Marcia in PA - Hello and welcome to the forum!
I love the Bismarck Palms and would have one if I had room. DH Jim has banned me from planting any more trees and I don't have many sunny spots left so I better listen to him. We're a little far north for them but Leu Gardens here in Orlando has a beautiful Bismarck that I lust after every time I see it.

Kate

Marcia, no, my youngest was born at Magee Women's 28 years ago, and my oldest was born in Johnstown, PA, 31 years ago, so I'm no spring chicken either :-)

We will be looking at houses in June and sure hope we find one we like and can afford. If no luck next month, DH said we'll make another trip down this fall to look again. We would love to spend this winter in our own FL home.

Thanks, Kate. I'm not sure what kind of yard we'll have if we find a place to buy, but most of the homes I've seen on real estate sites have nothing planted but grass. I'm not sure I'll be up to the challenge of knowing what and how to plant, so I'll be asking lots of questions if that day arrives for us. As I said, a Bismarck palm is definitely on my list, as well as citrus trees and plants for butterflies and hummingbirds.
Marcia in PA (for now!)

Marcipa,
Welcome. This group may be your best resource for newbie florida gardening. I'm a bit of a newbie and I have not only gotten fab advice, and quick answers to my questions - like what is this parrot - but people here have sent me seeds and one GWer has even invited me up to her home to just go shopping in her yard for cuttings.
This is a really cool crowd and my yard looks infinitely better because of it.
When you're looking at places, feel free to post here for advice. There's also a conversations section for off-topic, non gardening issues.
And if you end up this far south (I'm in miami) I'll have cuttings for you to help you get started. I owe some gardening karma. :)
Susannah

Your visiting parrot is probably someone's pet that's gotten loose. I raise cockatoos and macaws and have had some fly into nearby trees. They can survive for a few weeks but will decline and eventually die if not caught. Parrots require specialized diets that are not available in the wild in South Florida. I suggest that you place a post in Craigslist and contact your local police department and Humane Society. When I've lost parrots I was lucky enough to recover them because the local police were notified. Parrots bond with their owners and losing a parrot is like losing a family member.

It could be a Norwegian Blue, a relatively common species. However, I would suggest that you consult a professional on matters pertaining to parrots. See video at link below:

http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&VideoID=5623662

Palmcity,
I'm afraid I haven't seen him again. And Miami's police department won't respond to found bird calls. If I see him again, I might try the Humane Society, but they're pretty swamped down here with abandoned dogs from the foreclosure mess. We do have flocks of feral parrots down here, I just always see them in flocks, not a single guy in my tree munching the seeds!

Please don't fret that this is someone's pet bird. Orange-winged parrots have been established in south Florida for years. Originally, they were probably escapees, but several species of parrots have been breeding in the south Florida area for decades, and doing much better than one might think. In fact, my own green-cheeked amazon was taken from a nest in Fort Lauderdale.

There are huge colonies of Quaker parrots all over parts of Miami. Blue-fronted amazons and yellow-winged parakeets are just two of the species known to be breeding there, as well. I've watched yellow-wings forage in local mango trees for hours. Whether they are good for the environment or not, they ARE established there, and so far, are holding their own.

Several of the Florida field guides now show examples of the different parrots that are known to be living and breeding in the area for identification purposes.

If the local authorities went out to try to capture all the parrots spotted in south Florida, they would have no time left to do anything else. Even some macaws are breeding there.

I agree that losing a pet bird is a traumatic experience, both for the owner and the bird, but many of the birds spotted at feeders and in backyards are simply wild offspring of escapees, and do not belong to anyone.

I also raised parrots for many years, and they can eat a huge varietey of fruits, nuts, seeds, insects and other food. South Florida is very much like home for many of the species that are doing so well there.

Marcia

Shame on you, Bill...anyone can see that THIS parrot is NOT pining for the fjords!!! He's certainly not an EX-parrot!
*tsk* Are you trying to confuse matters??

*grin*

For the record, Pranty, Radamaker & Kennedy's book, Birds of Florida lists the following birds as definitely breeding in south Florida:

1. Monk Parakeets (the most numerous of any parrot established in this country)

2. Black-Hooded Parakeet (formerly called a Nanday conure)

3. White-winged parakeet

4. Yellow-chevroned parakeet (formerly called yellow-winged parakeet)

5. Mitred parakeet

6. Red-Masked parakeet

7. Rose-ringed parakeet

8. Red-crowned Parrot (formerly Green-Cheeked amazon)

9. Orange-Winged Parrot (your bird, N&V)

The orange-wing occurs in Lauderdale & Miami areas, and there are thought to be at least 100 individuals, and over 300 of the Red-crowned parrot.

Orange-wings eat fruit, nuts, and flowers from both native and exotic plants (and they have an ample supply of those in south Florida).

Just passing the info along.

Marcia

Here in St Pete we've got loads of Quakers and Nandays. They're fun to watch and they always announce themselves as they fly past with their loud squawking.

In the past couple of years I've also seen some parrots with red on their heads that are somewhat larger than Quakers, though not as big as an Amazon. Every time I've seen them there have been two of them together. They're apparently not tame because I tried to coax them down from a tree and they were not too interested. They may have been Mitred parakeets, Red-Masked parakeets, or Red-Crowned parrots. I'm thinking they were Red-Masked parakeets because I remember that white eye ring.

Anyway, enjoy its visits. It sure is more exciting to see something like that in your yard than your typical dove.

John

We got some wild Conure's in the area. They are fun to watch.

Sadly, I haven't seen him again. And I've been watching. With this whole lay-off thing, my computer desk has become a home office (thank gosh it's situated in front of big windows and french doors.... finally I have a corner office with a view!)

I'm pretty sure he was a feral guy, just stopping by for a snack. He must have liked it because he came back once, but I suspect he didn't love it, because I haven't seen him again. There are still green seeds in the tree, which now I will refrain from pruning until every last pod is brown...

Honestly, it turns out my yard is as interesting during the week as it is on weekends. I love to sit here and watch monarchs in the ponciana, tiger swallowtails sampling all over the yard, the occasional zebra longwing stopping by, little blue butterflies (casius?) flitting around the plumbago, sulphurs in the desert casia, and, maybe best of all, the pair of cardinals teaching a baby to fly. I've watched him tumble out of a tree (he's already showing enough color to be sure he's a male) followed by daddy, down on the ground with him. I know I'm getting a bit anthropomorphic here, but it looked like dad was coaxing the little guy to "try, try again."

Of course, I was talking to a potential client and had to ask her to hold on so I could go grab the puppy, who was clearly thinking "I think I can, I think I can, I think I can actually catch a bird" as he launched off the deck towards the baby.

Now if I can just make this enjoyable life pay the bills!

Years ago, the parrots at Parrot Jungle (now Jungle Island) would fly free and return to Parrot Jungle at night. That was part of their gimmick. The Parrots were loose and the people were in cages. They endd up breeding in the wild and voila, you now have a garden visitor.

Parrots flying in the wild were commonplace in Coral Gables as far back as the early seventies when I used to see them as a kid.

Well, he (or she) came back yesterday, accompanied by a friend. They were flying around over the yard, and when I went to go get the camera, I missed one of them swooping into the ponciana again. Imagine his and my surprise when I ran out with the camera to catch him in one tree, and he was actually in the tree next to me.
He flew off, buzzing me on his way out, and he and his friend hung around for awhile in nearby trees, squawking away, fussing at me for disturbing their meal.
There was also some squawking in some trees down the road, making me wonder if they're part of a feral flock.
That would not be something I'd want to attract to my yard; they're pretty meesy and destructive, I'm told.
But I'm happy to have one or two stop by.They're awefully fun to watch.
I still haven't edited the little video I took, but I'll try to get to that soon. He's cute, unzipping the seed pods and tumbling over face first on spindly limbs.
Again, makes me glad I don't spray pesticides in the yard (well, termite treatments in the house are another thing.)
S

Well, as I mentioned, orange-wings exist in wild flocks down your way, so it's very likely he's part of that. It might even be a breeding pair, or just a group moving through. Possibly they will move on when they've depleted the food source.

They ARE fun to watch, aren't they? And so pretty, too.

Marcia

N&V gets all the good stuff. I evidently had peahens as snapped by DH. Big whoop.

Here's a happy ending story. Our neighbor, the nice one, lost her Quacker parrot and her DH found it in my front butterfly garden. It must've seen the Naturescape sign and knew it was habitat friendly.

Hey, I get VULTURES in the driveway and IBIS poking in my yard, hoping to find worms. Peahens don't look bad to me!

Marcia

I love peafowl! There's something very Flannery O'Connor about having them around that always makes me want to go slightly southern gothic crazy and keep giant, messy, noisy birds in my back yard while I putter about in something once elegant but now shabby, clipping the roses, a wine glass in hand, at 10 in the morning. (Telling the nosy neighbors "It's juice, I just prefer it in crystal and I broke all the goblets.")
I have relatives who have promised a complete Baker Act commitment if I get another pet, no matter the species. We have a feeding problem at the moment. The old dog eats his food, then eats the puppy's food, which the puppy allows, even though he's much bigger than the old dog now. The puppy just eats the cats' food. One of the cats goes next door and eats the next door neighbor's cat's food, supplementing his diet with small creatures with no ears because we make him wear a bell and he can't catch anything that can hear. The other cat reacts to her pretty much constant lack of food by marking my yoga room. So I mop a lot. All I need is a housedress and I'm really working towards my ideal batty stereotype.
But Chuck saw an owl yesterday morning. No idea of species or even really a good description _ he's color blind and green and orange probably mean brown and purple. I'm still learning to translate his colors into the colors the rest of us see. It's like learning a new language, complete with unintelligible phrases like "over by the purple tree." Really? You see the giant jasmine bush as purple?
Wow.

N & V, promise me if you ever do go out in your once-elegant but now shabby & tattered gown, wine in hand, you will call me to come look! I want pictures. It sounds like fun to me! (BTW, if you haven't read Garden Spells by Sarah Addison Allen, RUN...don't walk...to get a copy. They are your type of people!)

Love your feeding descriptions...a reactionary chain of animal chow events! *grin*

Marcia

I love the wild parrots. In fact, both the Quakers and the Black Capped Conures come to my yard and feed at the birdfeeders on a regular basis.

I especially enjoy emailing the photos to my northern friends.

Saintpa,
What do you have in your feeder? I have a pair of quakers that come every morning and just sit on the powerlines. Looking down at the feeders. There are some mourning doves and a couple blue jays that hang aroudn the feeders but I want the parrots..lol

Cliff

Cliff, some parrots have difficulty hanging on to certain types of feeders. If you really want to pull them in, try a tray style feeder. Of course, these black caps (formerly called Nanday conures) don't seem to be having a problem at all, do they? Great photo, SPF. Makes me miss mine...Mad Max was a hoot.

Marcia

Well, the pair came by again today. They've found another delicacy in the yard, the seeds of a terribly invasive vine with gorgeous pink flowers. I have no idea what it is, I'm constantly pulling it, probably because birds eat the seeds and drop them in my yard.

But watching the two of them in the very tippy top of the little oak, toppling over head-first to get to their seeds, was pretty cool. I'm still pulling that vine and the Virginia creeper in the cabbage palm next to it, but maybe I'll leave it for another week, just in case I get to see "my" pair of Amazons.

Funny was watching them look down completely unconcerned at the hunter cat with the bell. He's small for a cat and they're big for birds and he sulked by, making it clear he knew he was outmatched and wasn't happy about it.

He stalked off to the neighbor's yard to terrorize their cats, who haven't figured out he's declawed and fixed. They think he's one bad kitty because when they first tried to defend their food, the giant yellow lab barked at the commotion. They seem to have decided that my little guy has a bodyguard. We need to give our neighbors cat food for Christmas.

Cliff: The parrots seem to really like the Black Oil sunflower seeds and the white stripe sunflower seeds. I use a combo of both to keep them coming.

I had close to 10 at one time at the feeders. Now, I seem to only get a solitary breeding pair of the conures and the quakers. The quakers seem to be the most timid. The conures are used to me being in the yard and will go on eating while I work in the garden. :)

As an Amazon 'Mom' myself, I can say with no reservation, as others here have, that what you've got there is an Orange-wing.
Orange-wings beaks are horn colored while the Blue-fronts are black.
Also, the flight feathers of the OW are actually bright orange while those of the BF are vibrant red.

I also am 'Mom' to my Grey~Guy, Careybird Firetail, which some of you already know. :)

Miss Marcia and Marcia from PA: I was born in PA as well...but would nevah, evah go back!
Blech!!!
...and you can't make me! LOL :)

Yep, I just looked at pics of both, and they're orange wings. the blue in front of the neck is different on the aptly named blue fronted. Their blue is only on top.

Chuck is just in love with them, so long as we don't feed them. He's against feeding anyone else beyond the current collection. Since I lost my job, he has a point, but I snuck a cantelope rind out to the back yard, in case they're hungry.

Haha...I thought we had decided that way back up there. No doubt in my mind, at all, and that's another reason I posted the info on orange-wings being all over the area.

Lellie, I'm a Florida native who just happened to be living in Pittsburgh when my son was born. My first husband (and coincidentally, my father) were both from there, but I didn't stay there too long. Even my husband at the time couldn't wait to get back to Florida. However, I will always love things about PA...that was where I saw peonies for the first time, for instance.

Marcia

Well, I just took a stab at identifying the parrot--I was pretty sure it was an Amazon but never owned one, so tried to ID from photos on the web. I wasn't the least bit sure it was a blue front :-)

Lellie, I've lived in PA all my life, but DH and I are hoping to buy a winter home south of Sarasota. We are flying down next week to look for a small place. If we do, I know we'll eventually have to decide where to live full time. The driving back and forth will be too much for us someday. PA has some wonderful garden plants that can't be grown in the far south, like peonies, lilacs, and bearded iris. I love fragrant flowers and I know I'll be able to find some garden plants that I will love if we find a place to buy! I'm looking forward to the adventure and education.
Marcia in PA

Thanks Manature. Cool Saintpa.

Cliff

South Sarasota isn't far from me here on Anna Maria Island, Marcia!
I tend bar at the Sandbar.
If you're up this way...stop in. :)

PS: Miss Marcia...sorry 'bout the late post...you know me...a day late and a dollar short...LOL

Not to worry, Lellie...it's just good to see you posting again.

Marcia