Wednesday, January 12, 2011

Release

Just a cloud. Just a treetop. Just a gray day. Just some birds.

29 comments:

Dina said...

Just marvelous.

Mister Earl said...

They look like parrots. Was there a lot of screeching involved?

Joanne said...

Beautiful in a certain starkness.

Katie said...

Just another wonderful Petrea photo.

Margaret said...

Beautiful, and I like your sparse comments.

Petrea Burchard said...

Thank you. Yes, they're parrots. Mister Earl, I don't think our dear parrots can make a move without screeching. For those who aren't familiar with their sound, adding a recording to the photo would completely change its atmosphere, don't you think?

Anonymous said...

My camphor tree is open for business this month. I'll just bet the berries make them drunk.

Bellis said...

I think they're gossiping - they never stop, not even when flying. It'd be fun to teach them to talk and hear what they have to say.

ben wideman said...

beautiful!

Petrea Burchard said...

They haven't found our camphor tree yet this year. They fly over it from time to time. When they discover it, we'll have the chaos of their gabfest picnic until the tree is bereft of berries.

Thanks, Ben. I think the picture looks like silence. Funny that it's parrots.

irinapictures said...

Just beautiful.

Steven said...

I thought parrots lived in South America? I think I need some education. California parrots? I guess ya learn something new everyday. Did they escape from cages?

Mister Earl said...

Steven - There are many flocks of parrots in the Los Angeles area, the San Francisco area, and even in Brooklyn. They are not native to the US, and how they got here is the subject of much discussion - some escaped, some were probably released. Rent the movie "The Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill" to learn more about the San Francisco parrots. There is quite a bit of information on the internet about wild parrots in the US.

Genie -- Paris and Beyond said...

Beautiful shot of free spirits... the sky and clouds look ethereal with the subtle changes in color.

Bises,
Genie

Ms M said...

Simply wonderful -- and freeing to the spirit....

Steven said...

Well, I'll be darned. Here I have lived on this planet for more than a half century and I have NEVER heard of wild parrots in the USA. Thanks for the bird lesson Mr. Earl. Quite interesting.

Mister Earl said...

Where do you live Steven? I like the parrots we see in South Pasadena. They are green with yellow on their faces and a little red. They're not too big. A bit smaller than a pigeon. If they aren't sitting still, it's not easy to see that they are green, and they like to perch in trees that have green leaves to camouflage themselves. They are very loud. What I wonder is how many flocks are there around here, and how far does each flock range.

Speedway said...

Are these parrots a separate species, or like the ones in San Francisco, the descendants of escaped domestic birds? There used to be a species of parrot in the Midwest, the Carolina Parakeet, which existed in the very many thousands, so much so they were regarded as pest birds and shot indiscriminately into extinction. I think Audubon's illustration of those birds sounds similar to Mr. Earl's description.

Mister Earl said...

I've heard that they may have evolved into a separate something - maybe not a species. They are very similar to the ones in SF, but don't know if they are the same.

Petrea Burchard said...

There are a lot of stories about where our parrots came from--a pet store fire is one. It's also true that the original Busch Gardens in Pasadena had parrots on the grounds, and they could be descendants of those parrots. But one thing's for sure, they're ours, and I love them, even at 5AM.

pasadenapio said...

Just some birds attempting to spell SOS backwards as a warning to the trees. Trouble is, they missed the mark. They should be over near the Santa Anita dam.

-K- said...

Just a lot of little things that makes this, at times, a sweet old world.

Petrea Burchard said...

Oh Ann, I'm gritting my teeth with anger and sorrow at what happened in Arcadia today. Can it be a lesson to us? Will it make us mad enough to protect Hahamongna?

K, I know you're right. Sometimes I forget.

Louis la Vache said...

and just a very fine photo, Petrea!

Pasadena Adjacent said...

I see a serpentine formation

Petrea Burchard said...

I'm happy people like this photo. I do, too.

Susan Campisi said...

Beautiful photo, Petrea.

This post is poignant to me: the beauty in the sky above the carnage of the killed trees. I wonder if that was your intention...?

Petrea Burchard said...

It can be interpreted that way, Susan, and Ann's comment struck home. But no, I was thinking of someone I knew who died on Tuesday after a long illness.

Susan Campisi said...

So, a different loss. Really lovely words and photo to express it.