Bird of the week - Ring-necked parakeet

It is not often I take photos of birds on the feeders but I made an exception for these.  This is a bird I hoped would one day visit my garden as ring-necked parakeets have been seen and heard regularly only a mile or two away, but until last week I had never seen one here.

The first photos were taken a week ago just after sunrise in poor light through the (not very clean) kitchen window.

Fortunately the bird was back an hour or so later when the light had improved and the window was open.  It was first on the sunflower hearts and then on the peanuts, and occasionally sitting on a branch wondering what to eat next.  This is an adult male, with a prominent neck ring.

The male (or a male) was back again earlier in the week and then word must have spread because yesterday a different bird arrived, this one with only a faint neck ring, so either a female or a juvenile.

And then there were two.

These are wonderfully acrobatic birds and they walk around the mesh of the feeders using their beaks as a third foot.

And now they are here every day.  This one arrived this morning and sat high in the tree calling before coming down to feast on sunflower seeds and peanuts for a good 20 minutes.

Ring-necked parakeets (Psittacula krameri) are native to Africa and Asia and were first recorded as breeding in the UK about 50 years ago.  No-one knows how they got here but theories linking them to Jimi Hendrix or Humphrey Bogart are almost certainly unfounded.  Although they were probably escapees or releases in this country they may even have flown across the Channel from the near continent.  Their numbers have since increased to about 12,000 pairs, ours being the most northerly breeding population of parrots in the world.

Most British birds are found in and around London and the distribution is strikingly linked to human habitation.  These are city birds, perhaps because they find more to eat in parks and gardens.  This map shows records in iRecord since 2000.

Many people seem to disapprove of parakeets but they are here to stay.  I think this is a wonderfully exotic addition to my garden and I hope they stay around.