Mike in the Wild

Finding colonies of exotic birds in the wild is a colorful part of the bird watching experience.  The rosy-faced lovebirds that populate many Phoenix neighborhoods are easy to find if you're listening for them; they seem to chirp incessantly unless they're eating.  And I vividly recall the flock of rose-ringed parakeets I photographed in a tree canopy over the canal in Zweibruecken, Germany several years ago.  Both of these colorful species are native to Africa and have managed to survive, if not thrive, in urban habitats around the globe. So I was excited to find a new immigrant to the American landscape in the form of a northern red bishop at Watson Lake in Prescott last Monday.  This bird is also native to Africa and is as equally striking in appearance as the parrots.  But the bishop is not in their same family; instead it's in the large order of passerines - sometimes called songbirds - and is grouped more specifically with weavers.  These birds are kn...