To have been so easily seduced?

[MadHattersWineParty]

By a pair of parakeets

They are bloody noisy buggers. But so pretty. DP is making fun of me as I am absolutely fasincated by them. They're not supposed to be on the feeder as its for small birds but they have totally bowled me over! They are eating the sunflower hearts.

They have visited every morning this week and they sit there ever so nicely.

I still love the more common garden birds we get too. The flats are at the back of an industrial estate in suburban south-west london so it's great that there's so much wildlife.

Just wanted to share as I was so excited by 'my' new birds!

That's very cool. It's like having pet parakeets with none of the bad bits.

Are you in Surrey? My dad is always telling me about the parakeets. It was a little joke in our family where we all pretended they didn't exist 'oh, are they next to the pink elephant dad, there there"

Sorry just saw the bit where you said where you were!

YANBU, how lovely

Have you taught them to swear yet?

Indian Ring Neck parakeets are just gorgeous but very loud. I used to live in South West London and there are loads of them. Richmond Parks has flocks of them. There are lots of rumours as to how they came to be ie escaped pets, escaped from Heathrow. I do miss that flash of green and screech in the morning

Defo not unreasonable. We had a pair of collared doves that used to come avisiting in a previous house. Used to knock on the bedroom window and also come up the steps to the front door, which was glass and tap on that,

Eventually the constant tapping got irritating, would drive the dog nuts, but for a time it was quite cool to see them.

They are stunning. I love birds. What a treat.

I used to have a wild blackbird with one eye and a white wing, and he used to come into the house to be fed by me. I've never seen such a tame wild bird. I really miss him.
I'd love some parakeets to visit!

There are some interesting theories as to how we ended up with them:

parakeets escaped from the branch of Ealing Studios used for the filming of The African Queen — Isleworth Studios — in 1951

a pair were released by Jimi Hendrix in Carnaby Street, London, in the 1960s

If I book an airbnb I can go out with people, dump bags and run. Shop and then leave without treating friends like a hotel. What do you think? I don't need to be fed, don't plan to be in a lot. Just need a bed, somewhere to leave my case and charge my phobe

SE London here and they're everywhere! My ds loves them.

This thread inspired me to go and look out of the window. Often see RNPs here (NW Kent) - none this time but there was a lovely redwing in the horse chestnut tree :)

They are beautiful. I'd be delighted if they visited our garden but not very likely in Scotland.

How do parakeets survive in the wild in winter? Or have they adapted to the English climate?

Oh, I'd love those in my garden OP, lucky you.

Apparently they can live in the foothills of Nepal or some such so they can adapt to the cold quite easily!

Lots of people round here think they are pests though. My mate calls them 'posh pigeons'! The starlings are the worst behaved on that bird-feeder, they descend like a plague of locusts and make a bloody mess. The parakeets are very polite and tidy in comparison

I love collared doves. And I would adore a tame blackbird! I love birds but sadly don't have a garden so this is as close to being mates with them as I can get for now.

Jealous of the redwing sighting too!

I used to get dozens of them in my garden in Surrey

Ooh that's a lovely pic!

I might get them some peanuts later as a treat.

I am desperate to see some in my East London garden.
They have them up the road and my colleagues see them at my workplace which is on old estate land.

Apparently some have been seen in our local park so I am keeping my fingers crossed.

I love birds. Very lucky to get them OP, I'd love to see them here.

I love that bird feeder btw OP.

Does it just stick on the outside of the window with 2 suction cups?

I love them. See flocks of them in north and south east London. Love a bird!

We have masses of them around here. However have had to put up parakeet-proof feeders since they would pig everything so quickly and the little birds wouldn't get a look in - except for the ground feeders like blackbirds and robins, who enjoyed hoovering up all their messy crumbs.

When it's really cold I do put up a peanut feeder in the front garden just for them, though.

Agree they're very pretty birds - no wonder you're excited to have them visiting. I still find it amazing that they've managed to survive and multiply to such an extent in a country with relatively cold winters.

We once saw an adult parakeet going to feed its baby in Richmond Park - nest was in a hole high up in a tree and the baby was poking its little head out! You always see a lot in Richmond Park, and whole (very noisy!) flocks of them in the beech trees when the beech nuts are ripe.

South London here and we see the odd one or two flying over- can always tell by the squawking! My mum lives out in west London and they have flocks of them. It's always lovely to see that flash of green overhead!

If anyone wants to see the parakeets really close-up, they come to feed from people's hands in Kensington Gardens in central London. (They do bite a bit though.) Blue and great tits will feed from your hand there too.

Thanks Worra yes it sticks on with those (apparently very strong) suckers and it has somewhere to tie a string to the inside of your window so that if it comes off its not lost forever! We just take it off the suckers to clean and refill it. Was cheap off Amazon.

They can be bullies to the smaller birds but our original great and blue tits and the Robin are still visiting frequently so that's good!