These birds are ridiculous! This morning, about 09:15, we had a garden full of ring-neck parakeets (Psittacula krameri from Northern India): 26 of them sitting about the trees and on the almost empty feeders; in the rain. And that’s the ones I could see! And it wasn’t just parakeets, the full count was at least:
- 26 Ring-neck Parakeets
- 2 Magpies
- 2 Woodpigeons
- at least 1 Squirrel
- and an uncountable number of various species of tit (blue tit, great tit and maybe some coal tit).
Here’s a quick photo of some of them (taken through a dirty window) to prove the point – I can count 22 in this photo! [Click the image for a larger view.]
I know many people don’t like these parakeets: they’re an alien invader, prolific, noisy, and supposedly keep the smaller birds off food supplies. However we love having them around. No, they’re not native. Yes, they’re noisy. But they are comically acrobatic. And judging by our garden observations they certainly don’t deter the smaller birds – if anything is guilty of that it’s the squirrels.
There’s lots more on these parakeets on the Natural History Museum website. Let’s celebrate them as a colourful and fun addition to our environment.