Dear Readers, I hope that you’ll excuse me waxing lyrical about the ring-necked parakeet again, but today I observed some quite interesting behaviour. This bird had popped down to pick off some peanuts again – I think it’s a youngish male, as I’m pretty sure I can see traces of pink on the neck (only the males have the ‘ring-neck’). As soon as a parakeet appears, everybody else withdraws.

Collared dove waiting its turn

Goldfinch keeping a low profile

Anyhow, the parakeet withdrew to the whitebeam tree and sat there serenely.

And then I heard the magpie approaching. It landed some considerable distance up  the whitebeam, but seemed curious about the parakeet – the magpie was looking at it with interest, and uttering little clacking sounds, which I associate, rightly or wrongly, with the bird being both curious and nervous. The parakeet looked at it quizzically, but continued to sit.

The magpie came a bit closer, and sounded more agitated. You can just about make out a black and white blob at the top right of the tree.

And then they both sat there for a while, the magpie scratching itself and ‘talking’ to itself, the parakeet looking supremely unbothered. Magpies are larger than parakeets, but I think parakeets are even feistier. Anyhow, it was the magpie who blinked and flew away, so no feathers flew. When two birds as intelligent as these meet, it’s always interesting (to me at least) to see what happens. if you’ve spotted any encounters between parakeets and other species, do let me know.

I am reminded also of the day that a sparrowhawk killed a bird in the garden, and was promptly mugged not only by a magpie, but also by a squirrel. Nature never ceases to amaze.

Photo of a magpie attempting to ‘mug’ a sparrowhawk from my garden in May 2021