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Is this a Carolina Parakeet?


CP hunter

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It sure looks like one to me. Where was the photo taken, what's the story behind the picture? There are mounted specimens out there...could this be one that someone put up in a tree and photographed?

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Sure looks like it, but coming from me that means absolutely nothing. I am not familiar with the bird and had to look it up.

I found this interesting tidbit on wiki:

Carolina Parakeets were probably poisonous—American naturalist and painter John J. Audubon noted that cats apparently died from eating them, and they are known to have eaten the toxic seeds ofcockleburs.[4]

Birkhead, Tim (2012). Bird Sense: What It's Like to Be a Bird. New York: Walker & Company. p. 123. ISBN 978-0-8027-7966-3.

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I was just reading up on this bird, it does look like one from the pictures of mounted specimens available on the web. Thing is is it real or a faked bird mounted in a tree? If it's real then it would be a great find.

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I'm no expert, but it looks better than a mounted specimen, which has an undoubtedly "dead" look to it. While the photo is at a distance and kind of grainy, it does look like the beak and eye have a more lively appearance in color and shine. What's the story behind it?

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It would sure be an amazing find if it was.

It's very close to the Okefenokee swamp which is where some of the last living specimens where reported.

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I took this into Photoshop and I'm convinced that this is a real photo. Could be a real photo of a dead bird. Who has a stuffed extinct bird lying around, though. If it's a hoax, it has to be perpetrated by a museum...

Could be a look-alike hybrid as someone on the bird forum suggests, but this is somewhat unlikely. Though perhaps more likely than a bird thought extinct actually isn't.

I think it's compelling enough...

Who would be the authority on something like this?

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I took this into Photoshop and I'm convinced that this is a real photo. Could be a real photo of a dead bird. Who has a stuffed extinct bird lying around, though. If it's a hoax, it has to be perpetrated by a museum...

Could be a look-alike hybrid as someone on the bird forum suggests, but this is somewhat unlikely. Though perhaps more likely than a bird thought extinct actually isn't.

I think it's compelling enough...

Who would be the authority on something like this?

With a quick Google search I found these guys on this site.

http://eol.org/pages...nities/curators

http://eol.org/users/62306

http://eol.org/users/39552

Here's another site that might help.

http://artsci.nmsu.edu/newsletter/nmsu-researchers-seek-to.html

Edited by evancj
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My first reaction was the same, but then I looked at the patterns on the apples and the general angle and line highlight in the bird's eye seem to jive. I chalk my reaction to the weirdness of seeing this bird. We wouldn't think twice if this were a robin...

I'm not saying it's definitively real, but if it's not a real photo, it's an impressive photoshop job, IMO.

Edited by CP hunter
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I do seem to recall the parrots and parakeets love fruit when it's available. Wonder when the photo was taken, it would have to be when the apples were near ripe for picking.

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What stands out to me is the OP in the other forum didn't even mention Carolina Parakeets, they were inquiring whether it might be an escaped exotic. That certainly doesn't rule out a hoax beyond scrutiny, however it seems to be a strange place to pull one, if it is a hoax I don't get there angle.

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Again, no bird expert here, but I thought of an exotic rather than an extinct bird too. I did a quick search of wild U.S. exotics and feral parrots and parakeets. No matches that I could tell.

But then there is also the pet trade to consider and escapees or released.

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As an aside, as I was looking into this a bit, I found a widely circulated April Fool's Day joke from a couple of years back saying that the Cornell Lab of Ornithology has confirmed the re-emergence of the bird.

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Check this out, apparently it was re-discovered in 2009.

http://cincinnatibir...380b561de5b81e3

Looks too elaborate to be an April Fool's joke to me. But I could be wrong, I'm easily fooled in the state I'm in right now.

Yep, it's a fake. here's the link:

http://wildbirdsbroadcasting.blogspot.com/2009/04/announcement-of-false-discovery-of.html

Damn, I'm going to have to stop posting before I can check stuff out better or my head clears.

Edited by keninsc
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Except for the completely different color...

I apologize, that was a hasty reply on my part. I meant to suggest it may be a female sun parakeet, which typically has less vibrant coloring than a male. After doing an internet search, I see the difference isn't that noticeable in sun parakeets:

"....males' are often just a little more intense and vivid in that department, specifically in the areas surrounding their stomachs and faces. However, the additional luminance of the males isn't always easily apparent, as these parrots' plumage coloring is highly "case by case" in the first place, regardless of sex."

http://animals.pawnation.com/tell-difference-between-male-female-sun-conure-6285.html

As an aside, as I was looking into this a bit, I found a widely circulated April Fool's Day joke from a couple of years back saying that the Cornell Lab of Ornithology has confirmed the re-emergence of the bird.

I think Rafterman may have solved the mystery.

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I have a pet parakeet and it looks nothing like the picture .the bird looks like an amazon parrot.

I have 5 pet birds but iam no pro.

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