My World: Green Parrots of Beverly Hills, California

There is a small flock of parrots in the palm tree topps in Northern Beverly Hills.


I thought I was shooting some more common doves, biut was surprised when I chimped on the LCD screen.




I do not imagine that this unnatural addition to the local wildlife damages the ecosystem, but it does demostrate how we can accidentally change the course of wildlife patterns.


Enjoy

Asher

I am limited by by lack of reach but hope to do better either one day with a rented longer lens!

It was hard to see where they vanished to. So I just shot at the palms when they birds disappeared into the palms. I thought that at least occasionally they have to perch on my side of the trees!




I am at the edges of my competence in tracking the birds or finding them, but I was still thrilled to get what I got!

Asher

Fun photos, Asher!

You're right; birds are wonderful subjects and they can be difficult as well. Especially so when you have to haul a 500 or 600mm fire hydrant to fill the frame.

Tom Robbins said:

Fun photos, Asher!

You're right; birds are wonderful subjects and they can be difficult as well. Especially so when you have to haul a 500 or 600mm fire hydrant to fill the frame.

Click to expand...

Well Tom,

600mm lenses are, for me and my exercise tolerance, an existential threat far riskier than shooting young models!

If I had 50MP with the same lenses it would have been a whole lot better! I am thinking of a Fuji GFX, the "A7RIII for 2018", which can AF Canon and Hasselblad H lenses!

With the GFX I would have 50MP instead of 18MP and ability to recover the shadows under the wings! But then I would use the 300 4.0 with the X 1.4 which will be easy to hold and 4x the size!

My dream would be the new Sony 100-400 with the X 1.4 on the Sony A7R III. Perhaps I could use a used 400mm Canon or one of the Tamron or Sigma zooms instead.

The GFX only weighs 1.8lb so it is going to be a good candidate for birding in natural light, given the incredible shadow recovery of the GFX files.

Asher

A candidate could be the endangered Mexican parrot, the Red Crowned Amazon

There are feral parrots all over the planet. Small communities of escaped pets and smuggled valuable birds that have developed self-sufficiency in their new ecosystems. One is nearby in Pasadena.

The problem with the endangered parrots is that they have the equivalent worth of "rhino horns" in that there's a good payoff for smuggling small numbers for quick cash. They happen to be the most skilled in copying the human voices they overhear!

I imagine that these parrots in Beverly Hills happen to enjoy our tall palm trees and are protected from predation. Could be that the Pasadena flocks like living it up!

Asher

Asher Kelman said:

There is a small flock of parrots in the palm tree topps in Northern Beverly Hills.


I thought I was shooting some more common doves, biut was surprised when I chimped on the LCD screen.

Asher Kelman: Green Parrots of Beverly Hills #1
Canon 7D 70-200 L IS II, x 1.4 Extender​

I do not imagine that this unnatural addition to the local wildlife damages the ecosystem, but it does demostrate how we can accidentally change the course of wildlife patterns.


Enjoy

Asher

Click to expand...

Amazing... this is cool, nice set of images!

Asher Kelman said:

A candidate could be the endangered Mexican parrot, the Red Crowned Amazon

Click to expand...

Rather the Red-Lored Amazon, because of the yellow cheeks. THe Wikipedia article also notes that there are feral colonies in California.

Jerome Marot said:

Rather the Red-Lored Amazon, because of the yellow cheeks. THe Wikipedia article also notes that there are feral colonies in California.

Click to expand...

Could be, Jerome, that's a another reasonable candidate. I need more detailed pictures!

Asher

The 400 5.6 Canon lens is the heaviest I'm willing carry around.No matter how big the lens you still need to be as close as possible to get good detail. I had two guys with Nikon 600m lenses move almost as close as their lenses would focus to take pictures of the Multicolored Tanager at my feeding station.

Wow, Asher, I would never expect to see parrots in the wild like this. I have somewhere a photo of a parrot in our town, in a fur tree, but owned by someone who would take it into town. I would have to look for it, as it's a very old photo taken with a point and shoot.

And.. although not a great photo technically, the #3 shot makes me smile to see the parrot underneath, looking through the leaves as if right at you!

Good fun,
Maggie