Dear Readers, I guess the word must have gotten out – this morning we had no less than nine Ring-necked Parakeets in the garden, and a right old racket they were making too! They seem to be unperturbed by whatever we put out food-wise – they’ll eat sunflower seeds or suet, and today they were also getting stuck into the buds on the lilac. I’ve seen them munching on my neighbour’s cherry tree buds too.

They really are handsome birds. This male, in full breeding colours (note the very black neck-ring) seems on the face of it to be in charge, but who knows? When he and the rest of the flock fly off, one of the adolescents takes advantage to continue to feeding without competition.

Adult male

Juveniles tend to be a bit ‘yellower’ in plumage than the adults. 

Juveniles

It’s thought that there are about 12,000 breeding pairs of this parakeet in the UK now – it’s the most northern breeding parrot in the world. From a population that was very much centred on two groups, one in south London and one on the Isle of Thanet, the bird has expanded its range to include Sheffield, Manchester, Liverpool and Birmingham – this chatty, social bird is clearly an urbanite, and it may be that the warmer conditions in city parks and woodlands make them more conducive to nesting success. And they are remarkably successful in rearing their young – the British Trust for Ornithology estimates that 72% of broods survive to adulthood. I’ve noted previously that the parakeet nests very early, selecting a nest site (usually a hole in a tree) from January onwards. With an average of four eggs per nest, it’s no wonder that the parakeets are doing so well, but studies so far have not shown a detrimental effect on other tree-nesting birds. Parakeets are very domineering on feeders, however, apparently particularly to the detriment of starlings, who would otherwise definitely rule in our garden.

The little chap below has a very short and stubby tail – I’m wondering if s/he had a close encounter with a cat?

Anyhow, Ring-necked Parakeets are here to stay now – the birds have been genetically tested and are all part of the wild population that comes from India/Pakistan. Consensus now is that they are all descended from cage birds imported in the 1960s and 1970s, and that their ancestors escaped/were released on multiple occasions (so there goes the Jimi Hendrix releasing his parakeets while on an acid trip hypothesis). Whether they will prove to be a problem in future years is anybody’s guess, but for now I’m enjoying their cheekiness and the touch of the exotic that they bring to my East Finchley garden.