Today was about Thick‐billed Parrots. I heard them. Then I saw them streak across the sky. Finally I had a chance to see them perch, often times on a prominent snag, right out in the open for the sunlight to bathe them and so that every living thing present could have the chance to see them in all their glory.
Thick-billed Parrots
But then, I became a Thick‐billed Parrot. Not in some new‐age energy swapping or by having a parrot gaze into my eyes and I into theirs, although that too may have happened. But I learned what it was to be a Thick‐billed Parrot and to be quite honest it was equal parts fun and disconcerting. Disconcerting because I now know I would make a lousy Thick‐billed Parrot. Not just because I can’t fly, though that of course is a big one, but mostly because I would have a really difficult time feeding myself. And I like to eat whether in human or Thick‐billed Parrot form.
So I will share my secret as to how I was lucky enough to become a Thick‐billed Parrot. You too can try it, though I recommend having good cleanup facilities waiting for you else you’ll end up like me and find that you’ve gotten sap on everything, including your camera and binoculars. Yes, sap gets everywhere when you’re a Thick‐ billed Parrot. But I’m getting a little ahead of myself.
Thick‐billed Parrots are special because they are one of a very few species of parrots that are not only adapted to live in high elevation pine forests but more impressively, their diet is in large part composed of pine nuts. Think Red or White‐winged Crossbill in parrot form but without the crossed bill and you’re in the right neighborhood. Thick‐billed Parrots use their, ahem, thick bill to help them pull open the green cones of pine trees in order to access the pine seed, which they then crack open to extract the meaty nut.
Thick-billed Parrot Chow
So we’re out in the pine forest and we are experiencing point‐blank studies of this marvelous species when we come across discarded green cones, stripped of their seeds and nuts, along with several fully intact green cones. And that was the moment I became a Thick‐billed Parrot. I’ll admit to sometimes being a bit impulsive and child‐like, especially when it comes to experiencing nature. I want to experience it first hand, not as a spectator on the sidelines. So, naturally, I grabbed one of the spent cones to examine it. I then attempted to extract a seed for myself, a task that proved extremely difficult. Then, as though I had become one with the parrots and my proverbial mother parrot was looking down on me, I noticed there was one seed that had been exposed, but hadn’t been eaten. I couldn’t have acted more quickly to pull the seed out and put it in my teeth to crack it. Well, my first attempt with my incisors and canines proved to be a failure so I repositioned the seed to my molars where I was able to crack it relatively easily. Please don’t tell my dentist I did that. I then extracted the nut and gobbled it up making sure to lick some of the sap off of my fingers in the haste of the moment so I could have the full Thick‐billed Parrot experience. The nut was tasty albeit a bit on the “green” side by human culinary standards, but was highly palatable.
The worst thing about it was that it was a mere tiny morsel and I wanted more. So I again went back to attempting to extract seeds. First I worked on the discarded cone thinking it had already been started so would be the easy one. Unfortunately, I failed at this attempt and decided that the end of the cone probably had been stripped of all of its seeds. So I decided to try my human hand at extracting seeds from the fresh and intact, green cone. I wrestled and wrastled and hassled and tried again and again. I got nothing from that cone except for two hands completely full of pine sap. And this is just one reason why I would make a terrible Thick‐billed Parrot.
But I did manage to have a moment. One moment in my life when the parrots screeched overhead and I dined on a white pine nut. And in that moment, I was a Thick‐billed Parrot.
‐ Ashli
Stay tuned for our new Thick-billed Parrot Tour annoucement. If you want to see these amazing birds and help conserve them for year’s to come, we’ll be having a tour in 2016 to do just that!
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