Mysterious boom in parakeets — in England

Mysterious boom in parakeets — in England
Sure, they're neat looking, but they're also noisy, voracious and prolific



STANWELL, England — The evening started peacefully enough at Long Lane Recreation Park in the western suburbs of London, disturbed only by the occasional rumble of a distant jet landing at Heathrow Airport. But just before sunset, five bright green missiles streaked through the air toward a row of poplars at the park’s edge.

Within minutes, hundreds more of the squawking birds — in formations 10, 20, 30 strong — had passed above the tidy homes and a cricket club, whizzing toward their nightly roost.

Individually, any of the rose-ringed parakeets could be the star of a DreamWorks film, electric green with bright pink beaks and the voluble personalities that have long made the tropical species a popular household pet. But for people who frequent the park or live nearby, the visceral experience is more like “The Birds” — albeit with more color and a much noisier soundtrack than the Hitchcock film.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/43029640/ns/technology_and_science-the_new_york_times/

video of parakeet invasion:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PchhCpF0TY4&feature=related

Or seagulls (skyrats).

Blue/green ones. Cause problems by nesting in telephone poles and wires.

Most likely progeny of those released by pet owners who changed their minds.

birds are so dang noisy!!

Their nests get so big they can fell a tree.


http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_CGTAGw14sUI/SmOk19F082I/AAAAAAAAAMM/dPfSkDxMK50/s400/Monk+parakeet+nest+name.JPG

This is mind blowing.. and it's just one Quaker/Monk Parakeet..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3gNk0yTZZHI

the monk parakeet is an aberrant south american colony species that builds nests

"parakeet" is a bad name, almost no other species is closely related to monks, and almost no other parrot or parakeet builds their own nests

cliff parakeets do but are endemic to bolivia

the "parakeet" problem in britain is the rose-ringed parakeet, a species that is no relation to any parakeet that builds a nest on telephone poles

rose-ringed parakeets (the only british parrot) nests in cavity, not on telephone poles and they make no more noise than any other bird in my estimation

there are people who hate parrots/parakeets because their intelligence threatens a sociopath's or an insecure person's view of the world...but if you are afraid of a lovely thing like the rose-ringed parakeet flying about, the problem is in you and not in the bird

and, again, they do not build the type of nest you showed, that is something only monk/cliffs build

i have observed monks in new orleans and at home in bolivia, and i have observed rose-ringed parakeets in several places in europe, and there is no way that the rose-ringed parakeet is a pest species unless you're a person who just hates everybody, for that matter, the monks in new orleans are not a pest species and don't bother anyway...they are so "noisy" that almost NO ONE even knows they are there other than birdwatchers

Alive or dead?

The Norwegian blue, a remarkable bird...

As the conure gets to playing

"Mmmm...Mrs. Essence flushed hers down the loo".

"Oh, that's dangerous, 'cause they breed in the sewers and eventually you get huge evil smelling flocks of soiled
budgies flying out of peoples lavatories infringing their personal freedom".

:smoke:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l2KmnZSnqIs&feature=fvsr

J