After a quick walk around the rest of the site without any further success, including a second stop at the feeders where I heard the Ring-necked Parakeet I'd seen a few weeks prior pipe up but only for a split second, I set off home, slightly disappointed with my results.
Half way down the road, I saw a few of the dog walkers I'd seen earlier. One of the guys asked me if I'd seen the Parakeet, and I replied that I had a few weeks ago but not today. I asked him if he had seen it, and he told me that he had almost daily since before Christmas, and tipped me off about a Peanut feeder, a little off the beaten track where you could get within a few metres. He told me he hadn't seen it today, but I turned around immediately and went to find it for myself. Despite the fact that my gloveless hands were practically ready to drop off it turned out to be a great decision, as I got amazingly close views of a couple of metres and for once some pictures I couldn't be more pleased with! Here are the results:
I am aware that these birds are very much a pest in many urban areas, but there's no denying that they are absolutely beautiful to look at, and being able to get so close to one has been a real treat! So far my patch has been full of surprises so looking forward to see what it's got in store for me next!
Note: As I'm sure many of you may have noticed (stupidly, not myself), the Parakeet is in fact Alexandrine not Ring-necked (Thanks to my good friends of IveNeverKilledAPipit.wordpress.com for pointing that out to me).
