This is the moment a parrot perched on a traffic camera on a Brazilian highway played peekaboo with CCTV operators.
On October 29, a turquoise-fronted Amazon parrot (Amazona aestiva) was seen gazing into the lens on the busy BR-116 road near Curitiba, Parana.
Arteris Planalto Sul, a road management business, uploaded the humorous video on Twitter, where it has been seen over 262,000 times. The curious parrot’s head appears from the top right of the picture and glances into the camera before quickly disappearing. A few seconds later, the colorful bird returns from above the camera, swinging upside down and blocking half of the highway.
The parrot is living up to its reputation as an inquisitive and lively bird.
The Amazona aestiva is one of the most frequent parrots kept in captivity because it is simple to tame and has a flair for conversing.
In recent months, the lively parrot has not been the only bird to exhibit an interest in Brazilian highway cameras.
Two toucans were seen pecking at a traffic camera near Campinas, Sao Paulo, in April. A toucan is seen on the fence close to the camera in the traffic camera footage.
A second toucan appears around halfway through the video, and they take turns pecking at the camera with their long orange beaks.
They look to be toco toucans, which enjoy open environments and have benefited from tropical South America’s massive deforestation.
Two curious seagulls made headlines in 2019 after repeatedly landing on top of a traffic camera in London. Over the course of two days, the birds were seen strolling about in front of the camera at a crossroads at the entrance to the Blackwall Tunnel in Poplar, East London.
The seagulls were dubbed Graeme and Steve by transportation officials.
Seagulls have previously photobombed Glasgow traffic cameras, most recently on the M8 near the airport in April 2014.
