ringed parakeets in my garden

for years i now i have been getting ringed parakeets in my garden

at first in spring when the cherry blosom in bloom

 then one year a pair with two young were feeding in a nerboughs garden

these birds very rarely land on the ground generally no lower then ten foot off the ground in trees

this years been different as i have had them here since early spring every day

but in the last week i have been getting flocks of them some over twenty birds at a time and yesterday i saw even more atlest fifty birds up in my tall birch trees which they like 

now it was a good year for plums and they have had a good time trying to eat mine most end up on the ground with bits removed i was getting worried weather i will get any ripe plums at all but now they given up on them and the cherrys their beaks are not suited to eat them

whats evers on the birch trees seeds whatever are more to their liking

now these bright green birds just disappear when on these trees the only way you know that there  their is their  continual calling they never stop calling its kind of annorying after a few hours

now from my experence they dont seem to do much harm but with such large flocks i can see that they could

their flight is amazing a real work of art and can fly very fast just above or around the tree line

i wonder if others have seen so many in their gardens?

We had a pair nest nearby last year and this year we have now got a small flock of 6 birds flying around but they have not shown an interest in the feeders yet.

Shane

Hi Redrobin

Where my mum used to live just outside Margate  Kent there is a long row of tree that used to be cover in ringed parakeets. She also had one of her own which used to just sit on her shoulder all the time. Until one day she answered the door not thinking and off it went.

I guess this was the way how the whole thing started,

She did miss her bird and we would often hear her calling out in the back garden forever hopeful but it never returned. 

I think Kent is one of their biggest strongholds..

Robert

I live just east of Reading and over the last couple of years I have seen them flying over occasionally. This year, however, I've had them visiting the garden, first just a female but a few days ago a pair arrived. As you can see they seem to like peanuts.

These are the only two I've seen but they do seem to be spreading further west along the Thames valley from their stronghold west of London.

TJ

Hi Robert

An interesting story about your mothers Parakeet, Robert.

They certainly are very sociable birds indeed, and everything they do will be as a flock.  Must be safety in numbers with them to protect themselves from preditors ie BoP's

I think I might feel filled with dread if I saw then flying towards my feeders in the garde due to the sheer volume of them.

In the 'press' over the past year or so, there have been stories of Ring necked Parakeets damaging church spires by making large holes in them for nesting purposes.  In one incident the repairs cost thousands of pounds and the spire was historical so cannot be replaced as it was before. 

So I think they will be seen as very unwanted in the future due to some of their expensive habits - as in the word 'home wreckers'

Dave cycles part of his route to his work in London and he said he could see hundreds of them in Hyde Park and Gunnersbury Park in the built up London area 

You can hear them before you see them, and they fly very fast so it is hard to take a picture of one.

Not seen one here yet, and Dave wants to take me to London to see them in full flight mode.

TJ: Fabulous pictures of the Parakeets.

Regards

Kathy and Dave