Down in the Valley...the Valley So Low

If you're here to view the "RARE" bird I photographed this past week and mentioned on my personal blog, Hootin' Anni's... this post isn't it!! LOL I promise to get that readied for next weekend. The Birding Convention held here in Corpus Christi from the 22nd-25th put me in a whirlwind and I got caught up in that. In the meantime...


As I mentioned last weekend on my post, there was another unexpected bird that Bud and I never even thought to add it to our list of 'must finds' while driving around the river valley in southwest Texas. It's reported that some areas are literally filled with their roosting at night. Each evening just before sunset, the birds fly in with a rowdy, loud, calling and land in trees, rooftops, eaves, and power lines!! Oh the noise!! Their raucous can be deafening. But, still thrilling when it is something you weren't looking for in the first place.

And they are....Green Parakeets/Parrots.

Looking the kind up online, it's about 50/50 on which they are. Parrots vs. Parakeets. It's up to you to decide. But, they ARE wild in my opinion. Again, opinions differ in this aspect also. They ARE indigenous to Old Mexico and Central America and are reported being a vagrant traveler to South Texas in the Lower Rio Grande Valley. [some seen as far north as Austin, Texas and around the tropics of Galveston Island south of Houston] Yet again, some seem to think that they are tame birds gone feral. This, with all that is written up about them, I think they're more vagrant than tame gone wild.

It will also nest colonially on crevices in cliff faces. After the breeding season is completed, the birds will form large communal roosts. The US population takes advantage of palm groves in the Southern Coastal cities. Three years ago this Spring, our town had some spotted along a city street near a palm tree grouping!! Today, a lot of the larger suburbia has issued and ratified a protective ordinance to keep them from being captured and sold as house pets. Thank goodness.

Either Parakeets or Parrots, they're pretty. Of course green is a favorite color of mine. Can't go wrong with green birds!! [Or money, but that's a whole 'nother topic]

GREEN PARROT/PARAKEET
photos taken: Brownsville, Texas
habitat map: Green Parrot/Parakeet of Texas
note the site shared above also has great info/description of this species!!
Just click on links provided throughout the page

TRIVIA:

The birds [green parrots/parakeets] are cavity nesters, and will make use of hollowed trees, stone crevices, holes in buildings, and termite mounds. They will also nest colonially on cliff faces. Breeding has been recorded from January through April (April through August in southern Texas). Once paired, birds will investigate nest cavities, and the female will eventually lay 3-4 eggs. Following the breeding season, adult and young birds form communal roosts, which can number into the hundreds.

Flocks will often wander good distances of 100+ miles in response to the availability of food sources.

Some other birds we photographed while on our drive around the Valley can also be spotted where we live!! And names of them are found in post's labels.






photos taken: Between Brownsville, McAllen, Pharr, Mission, Edingburg Texas and Reynosa Mexico.
range map: Hooded Oriole

Now share your birding experiences: