Tropical birds are ridiculously colourful, aren't they? It's not as if jungle vegetation is any colour other than standard-issue green, and tropical tree-trunks are much the same sober shades of brown and grey as any oak, ash, or thorn. A European robin's "red" breast (actually, more the ochre-ish russet of tinned tomato soup) is, allegedly, the splash of colour in the dreary frozen wastes that promises the return of summer. Possibly; if we're lucky. Up here in the north we regard a goldfinch as, well, a little over-dressed, but tastefully so. The green woodpecker (possibly my favourite non-crow bird) has a slightly daft but dapper get-up. But parrots are the flamboyant Hawaiian shirts in nature's wardrobe. They're not hiding from anything or anyone; parrots are out there, loud, and proud, baby! Pay attention, check the feathers, it's showtime!
7 comments:
Apparently there are colonies of escapee parrots in the London parks. I think I read something about a cull of them a while back.
Zouk,
They're parakeets -- you can see them in flocks all over the place, especially parks. The last lot I saw in London were in the grounds of the Horniman Museum in Forest Hill. You can't miss them, they make a lot of noise! I saw just one on the edge of the Downs in Bristol last year, but none since.
Mike
Sorry, but that toucan isn't ready for showtime - there's something missing on his beak!
Best, Thomas
Thomas,
Well, of course! Fancy you knowing about that!
Mike
> Fancy you knowing about that!
Well, about 30 years ago, when I was still young, my favourite pub had exactly that billboard on the wall - enamel on a steel plate, already well worn. They had Guinness ale right from the keg, too, long before Irish pubs became popular in Germany. It was a pity that they had to use carbon dioxide instead of nitrogen in their peg system, which made the foam look kind of ugly, but nevertheless, they were the only place around which sold Guinness ...
Best, Thomas
The green parakeets fly over my house in West London in flocks every sundown to their roosts by the banks of the Thames at Ditton. While colourful, they're an ecological nuisance because they take the same nesting places (holes ion trees) as native British birds. Bloody immigrants ...
Martyn,
Invasive species are going to be an increasing problem, I fear, with climate change. The parakeets, coypus, knotweed, grey squirrels, etc., are already bad enough news for "native" species (though I was amazed to discover that rabbits were introduced by the Normans). Apparently there are scorpions in Sheerness dockyard now!
I really LOVE that fake planking Norwegian carpet you showed on FB, btw, and wish I could get hold of some.
Mike
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