Alexandrine Parakeet

A fun fact is that the Alexandrine parakeet, also known as the Alexandrine parrot, is named after Alexander the Great who took numerous birds from what is now Punjab, India and distributed them among the elite of Europe and the Mediterranean. It is also believed that Alexander kept one as his personal pet. They are popular pets. For us in the U.S., a parakeet is synonymous with a budgerigar of Australia, which is one species of parakeet. But a parakeet is actually a small to medium sized parrot with a long tail and comprises about 115 different species. The Alexandrine parakeet is a medium-sized parrot and one of the largest parakeets. According to Wikipedia, "It is predominantly green with a light blue-grey sheen on the cheeks and nape (back of the neck), yellow-green abdomen, red patch on the shoulders and massive red beak with yellow tips. The upper-side of the tail passes from green at the top to blue further down, and is yellow at the tip. The underside of the tail is yellow. Adults are sexually dimorphic. Adult males have a black stripe across their lower cheeks and a pink band on their nape. Adult females lack both a black cheek stripe and a pink nape band. The young are similar in appearance to adult females but have shorter tails." 

We saw Alexandrine parakeets along the main paved road around Kaziranga NP. They were standing on power lines in large groups. 

 

 

 

 

 

Range map of Alexandrine parakeet, from Wikipedia. 

Indochinese Roller

We visited Kaziranga National Park in Assam, India during December 2024 and spent five days at the Diphlu Lodge there. On our first drive into the Western Range I noticed a beautiful purplish/blue bird fly and land in a tree. I called our guide's attention to it and it was the first of quite a few Indochinese rollers we saw. It is not as pretty as the lilac breasted roller we have seen previously in Africa, but it is very striking. 

This blurry picture is kind of what I saw when flying. A blast of purple and blue. 

This is the first roller we saw. 

Wikipedia describes it as follows: "The crown and vent are blue. The primaries are deep purplish blue with a band of pale blue. The tail is sky blue with a terminal band of Prussian blue and the central feathers are dull green. The neck and throat are purplish lilac with white shaft streaks. The bare patch around the eye is ochre in colour. The three forward toes are united at the base. Rollers have a long and compressed bill with a curved upper edge and a hooked tip. The nostril is long and exposed and there are long rictal bristles at the base of the bill. It has a purplish brown and unstreaked face and breast. It has underwing coverts in a deep shade of blue." It is fun that both pictures on Wikipedia were taken in Kaziranga NP. It appears to be virtually the same as the Indian roller, but has blue or purple on the throat.

It is found in northeastern India in Assam, as well as Bhutan, Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam and bits of Nepal and China. 

Kansas City Zoo & Aquarium

I was in Kansas City, Missouri last week with Judy while she was attending a work conference. I did some things on my own while she was in meetings. One afternoon I visited the Kansas City Zoo & Aquarium and really loved it. It is very large, the exhibits are spread out, which helps alleviate crowding, and many of the exhibits are very life-like. It also had a lot of animals I've not seen in other zoos, or rarely see in other zoos.  

Now that I've been to quite a few places in the world I find that I really enjoy seeing animals in the zoo that I've seen in the wild. My focus on this post is comparing animals I saw in the zoo, that I've not seen in other zoos, and that I've seen in the wild. 

From that standpoint, my favorite zoo animal was the hamerkop. I've seen it twice in the wild, once in Shaba NR in Kenya where I'd never heard of it before 

Hamerkop with sacred ibis along the Ewaso Nyiro River in Shaba NR, Kenya

and a second time in Botswana, but I'd never seen one in a zoo.  

Hamerkop in Botswana. 

It is a very unusual bird with a hammer-head. Neither of my wild sightings were very good, but in the zoo I was in a walk-in cage and had two walk right by me, almost touching my leg. I was very excited to get such a good look. 

I've seen one saddle-billed stork in the wild in Hwange NP in Zimbabwe. Like the hamerkop, until we saw it, I'd never heard of it before. 

Saddle-billed stork in Zimbabwe.

I'd not seen one in a zoo until seeing two in an exhibit in Kansas City. 

I was able to get very close to the saddle-billed stork in Kansas City.

I've seen yellow-billed storks in two places in the wild. The first was in the Okavanga Delta in Botswana 

and the second was on the Zambezi River on the border of Zambia and Zimbabwe. Until the first sighting, I'd never heard of it before.

I saw them for the first time in Kansas City. However, unlike the first two birds, my views in the wild of this were better than my views at the zoo. The platform looked down on them. 

We saw a bateleur, a type of eagle, on a nest in Buffalo Springs NR in Kenya. Like the others above, I'd never heard of it before. 

Bateleur in Buffalo Springs NR.

Kansas City has two bateleurs, the first I've ever seen in a zoo.  

We saw a hadada ibis on the grounds of our lodge in Shaba NR in Kenya. I'd never heard of it before. 

There were several hadada ibis in the same exhibit with the hamerkops in Kansas City, also a first in a zoo for me. It was appropriate to see them together, as we also saw them very near each other in Kenya. 

The secretary bird is a bird I learned about as a little boy and have always wanted to see. I've been fortunate to see them several times in the wild and they are one of my favorites. We saw them first in Buffalo Springs NR in Kenya,

then Etosha NP in Namibia,

and again in Hwange NP in Zimbabwe. 

Kansas City had two in an exhibit. The natural settings are much more fun where their personalities shine. 

We've seen two southern ground hornbills in the wild, one in Hwange NP in Zimbabwe and another along a road in Zimbabwe not in a NR or NP. 

A poor photo but the best we got. 

Kansas City has a large, natural exhibit with what appears to be four or five. The only others I recall seeing in a zoo were in Tracy Aviary in Salt Lake City where you can get much closer to them, but it is not a natural terrain exhibit. 

We've seen kudu in Etosha NP in Namibia 

Male and female kudu.

and in Hwange NP in Zimbabwe. 

I may have seen them in other zoos, but not before I really knew what they were. I saw a female in Kansas City in a huge African grassland enclosure with lots of different animals. 

We've seen eland in Nairobi NP in Kenya

and at the Kansas City Zoo. I might have seen them at other zoos, but not before I really knew what they were. 

We've seen black rhinos in Etosha NP in Namibia 

Black rhino, giraffes and zebras at Okaukuejo waterhole at night. 

and they have two in Kansas City. I may have seen them in other zoos, but not before I understand the differences in rhinos. 

There were other animals at Kansas City I've seen in the wild, but much more common in zoos, like the hippo, African elephant, cheetah, plains zebra and Bornean orangutan. The ones I've shared are the ones I felt were most significant. I also loved the Sumatran tiger which I've not seen in the wild, have seen in other zoos, but is extremely rare.