Tuesday, March 20, 2012

Harrah's parrots

There's a colony of parrots living in the palm trees around Harrah's Casino. Soon after starting my job I caught a glimpse of an emerald-green bird flitting amongst the top fronds of a palm tree, and I wondered if I was hallucinating. (My daughter Lydia is the ornithological expert In our family, but I knew enough to be pretty sure that there weren't any birds of that color native to New Orleans.)

I've seen them several times now, and my pedicabbie colleagues have confirmed that they have seen them as well. Lydia says that colonies of feral parrots are fairly common in the southern U.S.  There may still be plenty of valid reasons to question my sanity, but apparently sighting little green birds outside Harrah's isn't one of them.

I often hear them chattering away when I ride beneath the palm tees at night. Unlike their kin in cages, they apparently don't speak English, so I can't say for sure what they're going on about. But I strongly suspect that they're commenting on my calves.

2 comments:

  1. I'm pretty good at reading minds, Mark. (Even from a distance...) And I agree. I'm pretty sure those birds are talking about your calves!

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  2. I figure that with their little twiggy bird legs, they would be all the more impressed.

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