Jardine Parrots and Peacocks

One of the great joys in my life are my Lesser Jardine Parrots. They are the smallest parrots I have and occupy a place in my heart that none of my other avian kids can fill.

Jardines are known as the "African Amazon" alluding to the fact that they are very Amazon-like in personality and a little bit in appearance. Lesser Jardines are smallish-size parrots ... about 11 inches long. My Jardines are clowns. They have a funny little lilt to their walk, love to bounce around, roll on their backs, hang by one foot. Perhaps you're getting a visual picture. Adding "cute as a bug" will sum them up to a tee. They are also my best talkers . . . really they are quite gifted. They are also beautiful -- their feathers are the most amazing green color combined with black, with some of the green feathers being quite irridescent. As they get older red feathers appear usually on the head, edges of wings and also underneath the wings. The posed photo of Harry and Isabel depicts their color as well as a photo can. However, their colors are really more vibrant. This photo shows two Jardine babies attracted to the window inspecting our visiting peacocks, which were just as curious about them. When I discovered this encounter I didn't have my camera close by, so missed the cutest photo-op. The Jardines were busy jumping up and down trying to get a better look. The peacock was showing just as much interest, but without the body language. Of course, I ran to get my camera and by the time I got back the peacocks had left the window. I waited for them to return while sitting scrunched up in the corner. It took long enough for my back to start hurting. As soon as they returned I tried to get a photo and all I managed to do was to startle the Jardines, who then turned into little statues when the flash went off. Oh, the trials bird photographers must go through. I hung in there as long as I could and finally got this shot, which is poor at best. Trying to deal with inside lighting vs. outside lighting is well beyond my capability. I had to lighten the photo enough to see the Jardines and the photo color ended up being washed out. Oh well, perhaps with more experience I'll learn how to deal with photographic challenges like this. I'll also need to take more photos of the Jardines so they get accustomed to the flash going off.