MetaFilter posts tagged with parrots

Kakapo Love

homunculus — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 17:53:20 -0800

'You are being shagged by a rare parrot'. Stephen Fry and zoologist Mark Carwardine have been revisiting the animals on the edge of extinction which Douglas Adams described in Last Chance to See. Here they make the acquaintance of an amorous kakapo.

UR ALL FAGZ!!

slater — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 20:22:51 -0800

Who's best at voice-actived gaming? That's right, parrots!

urban jungle

huckhound — Thu, 06 Jul 2006 07:51:17 -0800

the new urban jungle . . . is a growing movement led by cities like San Francisco, New York, and Leiden to restore active and vibrant natural systems in urban areas. Far from the eden-like depictions of nature of yesteryear, i.e. the garden of earthly delights (nonetheless, still attracting some dynamic new christian converts), the movement has morphed into today's backyard and grassroots environmental movement which is more and more a picture of hybridity, compromise, mixed-use, and ultimately, taking nature out of the walled islands of zoos, aquaria, national parks and other thick-walled institutions and offering a different kind of everyday "unmediated" community experience with the new urban wilderness. VIDEO LINK

Parrot vs. Utility Company round 2

wakko — Sat, 19 Nov 2005 05:45:38 -0800

Parrot outrage! Though their existance is a bit of a curiousity, the fact that a population of parrots exists in the wild in southern New England isn't really news to anyone who visits this site frequently. But the way a local power company is choosing to deal with them is making news in southern Connecticut. The monk parakeet builds huge nests out of sticks and twigs, mostly in trees but sometimes on power poles. The large nests present a growing safety problem, often leading to transformer fires and explosions. It was recently reported in both major southern CT newspapers that United Illuminating has begun a secret program of dismantling nests found on power poles and sending the birds to the government for eradication. Previous programs in other states have ended the way this one appears headed: eventually, the utility gives way to public pressure and either leaves the nests intact or destroys the nests but not the birds themselves.

Victor is the best budgie

leapingsheep — Thu, 28 Jul 2005 14:54:34 -0800

Meet Victor, a deceased, brilliant parrot whose owner recorded their regular conversations. The bird gives marital advice, demands human intervention to defend his toys, laughs to entertain his human, and much more. Imbedded audio in some links.

ParrotFilter

patgas — Wed, 28 Jan 2004 08:50:22 -0800

I, for one, welcome our new telepathic parrot overlords. "The bird, a captive African grey called N'kisi, has a vocabulary of 950 words, and shows signs of a sense of humour." This may be old news to some, since USA Today wrote about the parrot a few years back. You can also check out the project's site which features Real Audio of N'kisi talking, in which I can only assume he is plotting to overthrow humanity.

The Bird Man of Telegraph Hill

moonbird — Mon, 26 Jan 2004 16:55:31 -0800

The Bird Man of Telegraph Hill: a beautiful story of a formerly homeless man, a flock of wild parrots in San Fransisco, and how their relationship transformed them both. "You see them and you have to love them..."

homunculus — Mon, 06 May 2002 11:06:27 -0800

The number of kakapos in the world has risen by a third recently thanks to a 'bumper brood of chicks'. The kakapo, the worlds rarest parrot, was made famous by Douglas Adams' book Last Chance to See and is probably best known for its extravagent mating system. It is nice to see an endangered species doing better, especially one as cute and odd as this one is.