Pale Male and Octavia, Dr. Pepperberg, Griffin, and Athena Plus Quicksilver the African Grey Parrot Takes a Bath, and a New Red-tailed Hawk in the Neighborhood

                                                                               
Photo courtesy of http://www.palemale.com/
Octavia flies in from the left, North, and Pale Male takes off center like a bullet and then heads uptown, North.  Hawkwatchers surmise that there was some business that Pale Male felt he needed to attend to up there...such as a possible intruder.

Not all "intruders" mean to intrude.  Sometimes they just wander into the territory and can be easily made to feel they should retire to other regions when Pale Male comes their way.

 (left to right) Griffin, Athena, Dr. Irene Pepperberg

A double heads-up concerning an article about Harvard's Parrot Lab from Robin of Illinois, and Samantha of Brandeis--
(Video of Griffin and Athena the African Grey Parrots with Dr. Pepperberg besides.)

http://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2013/12/polly-want-a-vocabulary/

 Six month old Athena

Note that Athena's eyes are darker than Griffin's.

African Grey Parrot "babies" have dark eyes which gradually lighten over their first year or so.

 AND QUICKSILVER BATHES IN THE ROASTER...

 

I do wonder why he always has this internally absorbed...somewhat psycho expression when he bathes?

And he plunges back in.

What has he done with his head?

Ecstasy. 

Silver bathing is extreme frenetic movement...

Juxtaposed with stillness and an internalized expression.

A leap back in with flapping....more frenetic movement.

 Stillness.

A leap out!

And he's done!  He hops off and it is time for  the hair dryer.

He never talks during a bath.  Are the tactile sensations just  much too self absorbing?

I was driving along when I looked over and realized that a tree in this grove next to a house had a bright spot that just didn't seem to belong there.  

Sure enough there was a Red-tailed Hawk pretending to be part of the trunk of a tree.  She evidentally was quite intent on whatever she was watching as she didn't seem to notice that the car had stopped.  (No I didn't turn off the engine, just in case.)

 After a few moments she did deign to give me a look.

But then she turned her head and though still likely keeping me in view,  looked off into the distance.  She made my day for not immediately fleeing when she knew I knew she was there.  I'm going to be keeping a look out for her, she's my kind of hawk.

Happy Hawking!

Donegal Browne