Parrot Portraits~

On By cindy knokeIn Birds, Conservation, MY PHOTOGRAPHS, REVERIES, Wild Life

Every couple of years I visit Free Flight Exotic Bird Sanctuary in Southern California and play with the birds. Meet the Superb Parrot native to Australia. This is the only bird featured in this post that is not designated endangered or vulnerable in the wild.

Every time I visit, I leave wanting to adopt one of their birds, like this Eclectus Parrot, native to the Solomon Islands.

Free Flight was established by an avian veterinarian to rescue and rehabilitate pet parrots. They have several highly endangered Hyacinth Macaws which are the largest of the Macaw species.

Friendly and outgoing Yellow Naped Amazons live in Mexico and Central America.

Pretty in Pink Moluccan Cockatoos are native to Indonesia.

Free Flight birds live in an open aviary and interact readily with the people who come to visit them.

African Grey Parrots from the Congo are famous talkers. Despite myths to the contrary, bird brains are intelligent brains. Parrot brains in particular are similar in several important ways to primate brains.

Blue and gold macaw are native to South America.

Cheers to you from the beautiful, happy and healthy parrots, at Free Flight Exotic Bird Sanctuary~

For More on the non-profit sanctuary check out : https://www.freeflightbirds.org/about-free-flight

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372 thoughts on “Parrot Portraits~”

  2. I looked at their website briefly and while it is great that they offer homes to unwanted birds, they don’t seem to include information on why these birds are becoming endangered and threatened – because they are being caught and sold in wildlife trafficking. That is a real shame that they don’t highlight what people are doing to contribute to their demise as species. I can imagine your wanting to visit to see these beautiful birds.

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    1. That is a good idea. They are more focused on saving pet parrots that end up in horrible shape. I will mention your suggestion to them as I think it is a good one.

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      1. Quite agree!! We truly need to protect them and all the beautiful species that are sadly facing extinction due to thoughtsless human activity creating loss of their natural habitat.
        Great post Cindy as always!❤🙂

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    1. Dorinda’s kindness deeply touches my heart and so does yours in doing this for your fellow bloggers and drawing my attention to it! Sincere thank yous to you and Dorinda. I love being part of our wonderful blogging community. <3

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  16. Gorgeous photos of incredible birds. Are there limits on the exotic bird trade that could prevent these birds from being sold so freely as pets – and later needing to be rescued?

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    1. Yes, most countries are cooperating with the restrictions placed on exporting exotic and endangered birds. There is still illegal trading of course, and captive bird breeding in most countries. Since parrots often outlive their human hosts, this results in traumatized, orphaned adult birds who were entirely dependent and bonded with their humans, and are then shuffled around amongst people. Also some people buy domestically bred parrots with little understanding of the socialization and time required to keep highly social birds like parrots happy.

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      1. Thanks so much for this info, Cindy! Kudos for posting these beautiful images and for sharing the story of this special place. How wonderful that there are people so dedicated to caring for the birds and informing people of their plight.

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  17. I love all these beautiful birds. You capture their essence so perfectly. My daughter has always had an unnatural fear of any birds flying close to her so it was interesting when we were at the Butterfly Garden in Victoria BC and a parrot took a shine to me. He landed on me and even when other’s tried to coax him away, he remained with me for quite some time. My daughter watched our interaction from a distance but felt less fear because of it. I talked to this sweet bird as my son videoed the whole thing. We should let them choose us as pets, and see how we feel being out of our element. I have never been fond of birds in cages but they do need protection from human predators. Thanks for sharing this, Cindy.

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    1. This comment so perfectly sums up why I so admire you Marlene. You are a deep thinker and a sensitive and empathic person. These are the qualities I most admire in people. You daughter and son both sound wonderful, which is no surprise, considering their mother. Be well my friend and thank you <3

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  19. All of them are so beautiful and colorful. I enjoyed this post. I see very seldom parrots, but few years ago I saw two inside Columbus museum in Las Palmas.

    Have a good day!

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  20. Cindy, I am in awe of the way you’ve captured these majestic creatures! Their feathers in your photos are magnificent! Wow. What breathtaking birds. I love each and every one of them. It saddens me how nature is being destroyed everywhere we look. Once it’s gone, you can’t get it back. We must do a better job of taking care of the beauty we were entrusted with. Blessings to you for sharing this with us all.

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  23. The pictures are always very good, but I think……….. you are using these parots to get on better, no no, much better for your photographing careeer! Pour ducks, and you probably shoot them later after the great photo, I know people like you, I´ll call PETA
    love ya

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  32. As always great images, Cindy we had an African grey for many years and did he talk although my friend had a Macaw and that could talk the hind legs off a donkey and some…But both had great characters 🙂

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  34. bonjour ou bonsoir mon Amie et gentille CINDY

    Merci pour ta présence
    L’amitié est une source d’énergie
    Elle dégage en nous une chaleur
    Cette amitié c’est comme une
    Source , comme l’eau qui coule d’un ruisseau
    Elle nous donne de l’énergie positive et d’un besoin mutuelle
    On ne peut se passer dans la vie de
    Rire, pleurer, s’exprimer et se laisser aller
    Comme les rayons de soleil qui entourent la terre
    L’amitié c’est une force que nul ne peut ignorer
    je te souhaite un très belle semaine une belle journée ou soirée
    Et tout le meilleur dans ta demeure
    je te fais de gros bisous
    Bernard
    https://i.postimg.cc/jd74HCDL/bonjour-bonne-journee-ensoleillee-astuce-jour-L-1.jpg

    Reply

  36. Outstanding, their color, soft feather coats and they are so cute. My oldest girl had two parrots once, a male named Jake, and a female named Jessie. They could be hilarious watching them, but got to be a bit of work trying to take care of them with a job, etc. but were so much fun to watch, and especially when Jake once rolled a peanut on the counter riding it like one log rolling until he got it to the edge of the counter and let it roll off as it surprised him and then flew back to his cage. They were so funny, those two. They were amazon or south American parrots I believe.

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  38. I really love the birds, as I do almost all creatures.

    As for the writing, I have no special pattern. I write when I do and if I try to write in any other way, I cannot write. So I wait until I am inspired to write and then start working. It works out pretty well for me that way. Thank you for the great post and photos.

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    1. Ahh, so incredibly kind of you. Every bird lover is exactly like me. And I love being able to meet similar souls. We like creatures that can fly away from us. This is a huge commonality. It is wonderful to meet you.

      Reply

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