u/WomanCalledFancy

This parrot has been in the neighborhood for many months (NorCal). Only recently in my yard. Many neighbors feed him and there are a lot of gardens and fruit trees around. He must have been someone’s pet. One neighbor posted ads but no one responded. He follows the crows to find us bird feeders for food and safety (hawks and cats). At first, the crows flew away from him (who is that weird looking guy making those horrible noises?) then they eventually accepted his presence. After his dusk shouts, Ive seen him fly with crows. Lately, I’ve seen loose, white down under his tail so I think he has a cozy nest somewhere.

He comes to my yard in the mornings and calls for me from the trees or just waits until he sees me come out and flies up. He’s even flown so close I thought he might land on me. I can hand feed him but never tried to touch him. Doesn’t talk or respond to music. Hates the phone and will look or fly away if I try taking photos. I have no interest to keep him. I have a cat and not enough time or space to properly care for a pet bird. I will feed him as long as he comes by. He seems very happy and probably living his best life.

I am concerned about hawks and the upcoming winter. It doesn’t get terribly cold here but it could be far more than he is used to. He’s very smart to befriend the crows and there are other truly wild parrots in the area he might find and bond with. Any recommendations to help him survive?

Food on the plate is parrot food and fresh fruit and shelled / whole nuts on top. He loves purple grapes and apples.

Will it glow?

This yellow headed parrot has been living wild in our neighborhood for months. Heard his call all over, which sounds like someone is in distress tbh. Especially when echoing across the sky. At first the crows looked at it freaked out and flew away. Its sounds are really odd if you’re not familiar with them. I dropped peanuts off near a house where he often eats a few blocks away. The next day he and a large group of crows show up at my house together. The crows have accepted him. I’m delighted to see he is now a crow bro.

This morning I woke up to his cawing sounds in the distance. He was mimicking the crow’s caws. Went back and forth from his usual sounds and mimicking the crows. Hope I can record that someday. For now I’m happy he’s made good friends to hang out with.

For all you didymium fans out there, I present to you pure neodymium and praseodymium glass beads under natural, fluorescent, and incandescent lights. Twin elements found together in nature with neodymium in far more abundance.

Moser’s Prasemit glass, that is extraordinarily rare, was pure, or nearly pure, praseodymium. As you can see the glass remains green, just different shades. Wasn’t popular at the time and extremely expensive, so very few pieces were made.

Moser’s Heliolit is about a 1:1 mixture of the two. It is also rare but not nearly as rare as Prasemit. Color is amber/sandy yellow to green. See pictures of my Moser Heliolit vase.

Moser’s Alexandrite (and most other manufacturer versions) are dominantly neodymium with some praseodymium and possibly other elements. This makes the glass more of a lavender to blue than the pure neodymium shown here.

Moser developed all three in the late 1920’s and patented them in 1929.

I bought some other doped beads just for fun and will post pictures later. They’re all spectacular to look at through a spectroscope.

For all you didymium fans out there, I present to you pure neodymium and praseodymium glass beads under natural, fluorescent, and incandescent lights. Twin elements found together in nature with neodymium in far more abundance.

Moser’s Prasemit glass, that is extraordinarily rare, was pure praseodymium. As you can see the glass remains green, just different shades. Wasn’t popular at the time and extremely expensive, so very few pieces were made.

Moser’s Heliolit is about a 1:1 mixture of the two. It is also rare but not nearly as rare as Prasemit. Color is amber/sandy yellow to green. See pictures of my Moser Heliolit vase.

Moser’s Alexandrite (and most other manufacturer versions) are dominantly neodymium with some praseodymium. This makes the glass more of a lavender to blue than the pure neodymium shown here.

Moser developed all three in the late 1920’s and patented them in 1929.

My friend and I went to an antique faire this weekend and saw these. The eyes are so creepy it was hilarious. Don’t think I would eat anything if these things were on the dining table.

Thrift store find for $7. It was filthy and if I didn’t have my light, probably would have skipped right by it. All cleaned up and beautiful again!

First tutti fruitti I have found. So pretty. Amazing how many of these Murano glowers I find left over in the last hours of an estate sale.

Found a thin pink sherbet glass today at a thrift shop. Was expecting a selenium pink/red when I lit it up. Whoa, I was surprised. Green with 395 and yellow/orange-green with 365. No pink/red reaction. I suspect it’s doped with something else. The GC reacts but doesn’t go very high. Glass is very thin. I love these little unique mystery finds.

I now feel complete with my glass collection. Vintage Moser neodymium vase and Praseodymium vase (also known as Heliolit) glass. Of course I had to give you a UV light pic too!

Found this at a flea market. Very cool red glass art deco style ashtray. Never seen one like it before. Reminds me of the uranium glass ashtrays that look like a swimming pool with a woman emerging. Didn’t notice until I got home it has an internal crack. Still very cool and can use it as a trinket dish. Anyone know more about it?

I bought this gate marked, single spout, curved handled cast iron skillet. It’s only 4.5” in diameter. Size 1 or 2? So thrilled with the rare find! Beautiful little antique piece. Clearly it was used to cook in but not heavily. Amazing condition!

This is an almost antique Moser Heliolite vase. Heliolite is a 1:1 ratio of neodymium and praseodymium glass. This is a fabulous example since it is thick and color isn’t as transparent as thin glass. It is light to golden amber in natural light and turns green in artificial light. It is also doped with significant amounts of selenium so it has a slight peachy/rose undertone in most light. It is not Prasemit. Prasemit is primarily or entirely praseodymium. As my research has concluded so far, true Prasemit is a very pale green in nature light and a different shade of green under artificial light. No wonder it wasn’t popular if the color and the shift isn’t as dramatic as neodymium glass and was significantly more expensive.

Enjoy!