Monday, February 24, 2014

Scarlet Macaws

No secret about the subject of this blog entry.  About an hour after lunch on Sunday, and after driving along with open views of the Pacific Ocean, we arrived at a gravel pull-off with the Pacific Ocean spread out before us.  Litter cluttered the area.  There was a couple being discreetly intimate outside of their parked car that sort of reminded me of a good, old-fashioned lovers lane.

Vernon said only, "Okay, have fun.  Don't forget your cameras." Okay ... ?  It took no longer than one or two minutes to find our fun. We spent about an hour with perhaps a dozen birds eating from  oceanside almond trees. 


Scarlet Macaws (Ara macao) are very sociable.  There is never just one.


We were able to watch about a dozen restless birds eating in the almond trees.


The birds are so long - 35 inches from head to tail - and they were so close that it was difficult to get a full-length shot of the bird.


Take off. 


A Red-legged Honeycreeper briefly distracted me.


This bird was so close and cooperative.  It was great fun to get these photographs.


Looking for almond fruit.


Comical.


A flock of Brown Pelicans (Pelecanus occidentalis) flew over.  Flying just over the water and dipping its wings,  the pelican below brought up the rear.



My best shot of Scarlet Macaws flying overhead.

You can imagine the topic of discussion when we finally got back in the van for the rest of our drive to Punta Leona.

To be continued ... getting down to the last two days.

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