I left you hanging last month. I injured my back, and wasn’t able to sit in a chair long enough to write much of anything. My blog took a back seat to simply getting essential tasks done. No fun. Now I’m scheduled for back surgery, so my posts will have to be sporadic until I fully recover. Still, if one has to be sidelined, I’m glad it’s happening now, while the pandemic keeps us mostly home in any case.

If you’re still wondering, the name of the Christmas-colored parrot in last month’s quiz is the Australian King Parrot. That bird (above, right) is a female (as were all the other quiz birds for 2020). Perhaps she should be a Queen Parrot? I’ve included my picture of a male as well. He was the first bird I saw after arriving in Australia, back in 2016—eating the wisteria blossoms off our hosts’ balcony!

Now it’s time for yet another quiz. This year, I aim to portray birds as we so often see them in the field—not nicely posed like the illustrations in our field guides, but as seen from underneath, with parts hidden by leaves, off in the distance, or, as is so often the case, turning tail and fleeing.

I hope you have as much fun solving these mystery IDs as I had creating the challenges.

This bird was photographed in Texas on New Year’s Day (a number of years ago). Can you name it? The answer will appear at the end of a future post.