I am a Google Fu Master.

Duke Duncan is a relatively new member of the flock. He has had 4 owners including myself. At the young age of 11. that's quite a few. His first person was an older man who loved him very much. I can tell this because even when Duke is unsure about me, he is still very gentle. A nice change, considering that I have some that bite first and ask questions later.

When Duke's first person passed away, his daughter cared for him for, I think, 2 years. From what I hear, she was not so much a bird person. So, she brought him to a friend of mine. My friend, not having the time for him, then blessed me with His Highness, making me promise that she would get him back if I ever could not keep him.

Duke, giving the camera the "eye"

When we got Duke, we were told that he was a Lilac-crowned Amazon. I looked them up on the web and he looks nothing like a Lilac.

Lilac-crowned Amazon, picture from www.parrots.org

So for the last year, I have been thinking that he is some sort of cross between a Lilac and a Yellow-nape. I was so wrong, as I discovered about 5 mins ago.

While I was looking for a nice web pic of a Lilac to post here, I decided that Duke just didn't look like them even slightly. So, I did a broader search and found a picture that was really close to him. I clicked it, got the species name, and then did a search for those. Lo and behold, that was it! Duke is actually an Orange Winged Amazon. The way I determined this, other than pictures, was the description about this “tell tale ruff” of feathers around their neck that they can raise and settle at will.

Orange-winged Amazon, picture from www.ceiba.org.

Think of Jurassic Park. The little dinosaurs that had the ruff and spit poison. That is what Duke looks like when he raises his ruff. It is funny looking and gets us all giggling when he does it. I have plans to get some photos of this during the weekend, if I am successful I will post them next week.

See you next week!