Freaky Friday

Hooded Parrot

Imagine…you are a young family sitting at a picnic table, your young daughters diving into lunch when out of the blue, fifteen kinda-freaky people descend on your space, binoculars pointed up, scopes and long-lensed cameras pointed up, and they don’t seem even to notice you!

Until they do.

Oops.

Then these birders get really friendly and luckily, you are friendly, too, and they let your daughters look through the scope at what they are excitedly looking at.

It’s hard to see through the branches, but…

whoa! What a bird! (Funny how the nostrils and beak look like the Muppet Gonzo.)

There were several of these Hooded Parrots, in different stages of molt.

Here’s the whole tail, which was hard to get with the entire bird.

Almost got it all!

We were excited because Hooded Parrots are only found in the northern part of the Northern Territories, so they were quite a treat.

These are males. As we walked to another section of the park, we saw…

Hooded Parrot Psephotellus dissimilis

Lazy Lizard Tavern and Caravan Park, Pine Creek, Northern Territory, Australia

July 21, 2024

NOTE: Yes, we had lunch at the tavern after birding!