HARLINGEN, Texas (ValleyCentral) — They arrive by dozens in the late afternoon, raucously gathering in treetops before descending for their evening meal.
They brighten towering hackberries like Christmas ornaments, shimmering green bodies topped with jaunty red crowns.
Red-crowned parrots have been regulars at the backyard feeder for many years, and this time of year is special as adults are arriving with their young.
The exuberance of wild adult calls mingles with constant chattering demands to be fed by hungry offspring, now accompanying their parents on flights.
While the fledglings are quite capable of foraging on their own, like most young birds they persist to be fed by their parents.
The head bobbing and “feed me chatter” characterize the young, and they also have a dark iris compared to the bright orange of their parents.
Unlike human eyes, birds have no white around the iris itself, so their eye color stands out. Red crown parrots however sport a white eye-ring, which enhances their eyes.
The feeding frenzy can get intense, and this adult is being pursued by three hungry offspring who are all demanding to be fed at once.
After spending some nine weeks in their nest cavity, these young red crowns are bursting with eagerness to explore the vast new world beneath their wings.
Once the young have fed and settled down, quiet prevails, and as this parrot peacefully perches in the evening sun it becomes disturbingly apparent the bird is missing its left foot.
This is now the second parrot this summer that has shown up with a lost foot, as earlier a Red crown with a missing right foot was documented.
Perhaps, they are a birth defect, were injured fighting, or lost in a leg hold capture attempt for the illegal pet trade.
Both parrots’ injuries have healed, and they appear to be thriving, but it is very unusual to have two birds with missing feet.
If only they could tell us what happened to them.
