Counting crows… no… sorry… Starlings

If you’ve been captivated by the starling murmurations this winter, you may be wondering how many birds are in those vast swirling flocks. There’s no easy way to count them on the wing, but you if you can get a decent photo with the bulk of them in the frame, there’s a simple technique to get a rough estimate that will give you a good idea of numbers

A grid overlay on your murmuration photos can help you guesstimate how many birds are in the flock
A grid overlay on your murmuration photos can help you guesstimate how many birds are in the flock. Probably works better with a photo with no trees!

So, here’s a photo of a small murmuration I took locally. As you can see, I overlaid a grid on the photo. The simplest way to estimate bird numbers is to zoom in on a representative looking square and count them in just that one square. An average looking square in my photo has 70 or so birds in it. There are a few squares that have no birds (ignore those) some that look like they have just a couple of dozen and some that are much denser, so perhaps 100 or so.

So, counting all the squares with birds and multiplying by 70 would give you a rough number. A slightly more accurate way, might be to count only the average looking squares, multiply that number by 70. Then pick a sparse square and do a count, 30, say, multiply that by the number of sparse squares and add to the earlier tally. Then, do the same with the more densely populated squares. You could tally the sparse and dense as an average by counting how many squares and halving it and adding that instead. Lots of ways to do it.

While I was watching this murmuration, I guesstimated about 3000 birds in the flock. Using the method above the number comes out at double that! About 6000 birds, just in this frame. There were actually more that aren’t in the shot!

I did the same sort of counting at RSPB Ouse Fen at Earith in March 2024 where a friend had suggested the murmurations contained about 100,000 birds. The evening I was there the sky was filled with starlings. I took a lot of photos to get all the sections of this vast flock. I then did a grid count as above. I got a much larger number – 500,000 to 750,000. There may have been a few more. That’s the biggesst number of birds I’ve seen in one place!

SWT Lackford Lakes

First trip of the year to the Suffolk Wildlife Trust nature reserve known as Lackford Lakes. 2nd January 2025, glorious sunny day, first such of the year and the first for quite some time.

Nuthatch, Sitta europaea on *the* log at Lackford Lakes
Nuthatch, Sitta europaea on *the* log at Lackford Lakes
One of several Marsh Tit picking at titbits on the Lackford Log
One of several Marsh Tit, Poecile palustris, that were picking at titbits on the Lackford Log, bird seeds and bird fat placed deliberately by birders and toggers.
Blue Tit on thorny branch
Blue Tit on thorny branch
Great Tit, Parus major
Great Tit, Parus major. Should be known as the Black-masked Gold Tit, I reckon

Having seen four raptors on the journey there – Buzzard, Kestrel, Sparrowhawk, Red Kite – a trek through the reserve to see what we could see then gave us:

      1. Blackbird
      2. Black-headed Gull
      3. Blue Tit
      4. Buzzard
      5. Canada Goose
      6. Chaffinch
      7. Cormorant
      8. Coal Tit
      9. Coot
      10. Dunnock
      11. Egyptian Goose
      12. Gadwall
      13. Great Tit
      14. Great White Egret
      15. Greenfinch
      16. Greylag Goose
      17. Grey Heron
      18. Kestrel
      19. Lapwing
      20. Little Egret
      21. Long-tailed Tit
      22. Mallard
      23. Marsh Tit
      24. Moorhen
      25. Mute Swan
      26. Nuthatch
      27. Pheasant
      28. Pochard
      29. Red Kite
      30. Robin
      31. Siskin
      32. Snipe
      33. Song Thrush
      34. Sparrowhawk
      35. Teal
      36. Treecreeper
      37. Tufted Duck
      38. Wigeon
      39. Wood Pigeon

There was also a very odd looking bird being harried by a Blackbird in a tree. It was probably a juvenile Blackbird, but it seemed to have a rufous bib and a very pale, speckled breast for a brief second I imagined it might be an Asian vagrant in the form of a Red-throated Thrush. But, very, very doubtful.

2nd January 2025 was also our first outdoor picnic of the year! Is an indoor picnic an oxymoron?

North Norfolk New Year’s Eve 2024

Once again, we headed for the North Norfolk coast for the end of the year. Decent weather on arrival so a trek along the beach from Old Hunstanton in search of Glaucous Gull and Shorelarks although we saw neither.

Old Hunstanton, Sunny Hunny
Old Hunstanton, Sunny Hunny

The Glaucous Gull had been reported as feeding on a dead seal, we saw at least a couple of seal carcasses above the tideline, but perhaps too many people and dogs even for a brute like a Glaucous Gull to sit tight for a meal. It was reported on the 2nd January, so it was still around. Funnily enough, there are two Glaucous on the dump near our village at the moment, although no seals.

Black-winged Stilt, with copper ring on left shank. Fish supper in bill. RSPB Titchwell
A rather rare Black-winged Stilt, with copper ring on left shank. Fish supper in bill. RSPB Titchwell

From Sunny Hunny, we drove on towards Holkham and stopped briefly on Lady Anne’s Drive where a Long-billed Dowitcher had been spotted in previous days. I took photos of the much larger Black-tailed Godwits and other birds on the flood to the east of the Drive. The LBD is 11 inches bill to tail whereas the BTG is 17″). Once back home, I could zoom in on the long shots and could see I had got a snap of the LBD. So obviously smaller than the BTG but somewhat similar in appearance otherwise. It’s an American bird that presumably got lost and headed south down the wrong line of Latitude some time ago. They have been reported in North Norfolk previously and elsewhere in the UK.

Long-billed Dowitcher, Limnodromus scolopaceus, Lady Anne’s Drive, Holkham

Once in Wells-next-the-Sea, we checked in at the Arch House Rooms in Wells (run by the Globe Inn) before a sunset walk through the town and out along the East Fleet and then on towards the lifeboat station. Amazing sunset.

Sunset, Wells-next-the-Sea
Sunset, Wells-next-the-Sea, 30th January 2024

We were back in time for a half-decent supper at the Globe Inn, although the pub was not quite as nice as we remembered it from a previous meal there a couple of years ago. But, at least we got fed, one couple didn’t get their choice of drinks, none of the food options they chose were available, and they walked out hangry.

Brent (Brant) Geese, Branta bernicla, East Fleet, Wells-next-the-Sea
Brent (Brant) Geese, Branta bernicla, East Fleet, Wells-next-the-Sea. The flock of ~200 took flight seconds after I took this photograph and headed for the fields on the far side of the sea wall.
Curlew wading in the East Fleet at Wells-next-the-Sea
Curlew wading in the East Fleet at Wells-next-the-Sea

We had planned to walk to Holkham from Wells on New Year’s Eve and perhaps hop on the bus back, but given the windy, wet weather forecast for New Year’s Day, we changed our minds about that and drove to RSPB Titchwell instead. Titchwell is often our NYD haunt, but while it was windy at least it was dry.

The same BWS with another fish
The same Black-winged Stilt with another fish
Hawthorn Shield Bug that landed on Mrs Sciencebase rucksack while we were having a snack in between birding sessions.
Hawthorn Shield Bug that landed on Mrs Sciencebase rucksack while we were having a snack in between birding sessions.
Wren snacking on millipede while we were having a snack
Wren snacking on millipede while we were having a snack
The Eurasian Jay, Garrulus glandarius, one of the corvids. The blue on its wings is second only to the green on the nape of the Eider's neck
The Eurasian Jay, Garrulus glandarius, one of the corvids. The blue on its wings is second only to the green on the nape of the Common Eider’s neck
Ruff, Calidris pugnax
Ruff, Calidris pugnax, RSPB Titchwell
Black-winged Stilt standing out of the water showing off its magnificent legs
Black-winged Stilt standing out of the water showing off its magnificently long legs

I realise it’s not all about lists, but we recorded 60+ bird species on this trip. One of them new to us, that Long-billed Dowitcher. Titchwell was also the closest we’ve ever been to the rare Black-winged Stilt (a ringed specimen that had dropped in a couple of days before). Interesting to see that the reserve still has a Tawny Owl hiding in the same ivy-covered tree that we’d peered at on our previous visit to Titchwell earlier in 2024. We also noted a couple of species of fungi we’d not noted before – Scarlet Elf Cup and Candlesnuff.

Scarlet Elf Cup, Sarcoscypha coccinea
Scarlet Elf Cup, Sarcoscypha coccinea
Candlesnuff fungus, Xylaria hypoxylon a bioluminescent fungus, also known as carbon antlers or the stag's horn fungus.
Candlesnuff fungus, Xylaria hypoxylon, a bioluminescent fungus, also known as carbon antlers or the stag’s horn fungus.
  1. Avocet
  2. Black-headed Gull
  3. Black-tailed Godwit
  4. Blackbird
  5. Black-winged Stilt
  6. Blue Tit
  7. Brent Goose
  8. Buzzard
  9. Chaffinch
  10. Cetti’s Warbler
  11. Collared Dove
  12. Cormorant
  13. Curlew
  14. Dunnock
  15. Dunlin
  16. Gadwall
  17. Goldfinch
  18. Golden Plover
  19. Great Black-backed Gull
  20. Great Tit
  21. Greenfinch
  22. Grey Heron
  23. Greylag Goose
  24. Herring Gull
  25. Jackdaw
  26. Jay
  27. Kestrel
  28. Lapwing
  29. Lesser Black-backed Gull
  30. Linnet
  31. Little Egret
  32. Little Grebe
  33. Long-billed Dowitcher (New to me, 2024)
  34. Long-tailed Tit
  35. Magpie
  36. Mallard
  37. Marsh Harrier
  38. Moorhen
  39. Oystercatcher
  40. Pheasant
  41. Pink-footed Goose
  42. Pintail
  43. Red Kite
  44. Redshank
  45. Robin
  46. Rock Dove
  47. Ruff
  48. Sanderling
  49. Shelduck
  50. Shoveller
  51. Skylark
  52. Snipe
  53. Starling
  54. Stock Dove
  55. Stonechat
  56. Tawny Owl
  57. Teal
  58. Tufted Duck
  59. Turnstone
  60. Water Pipit
  61. Wigeon
  62. Wood Pigeon
  63. Wren

The Merlin app claims to have picked up Hawfinch, Firecrest, and Long-eared Owl at Titchwell. Fairly unlikely, but who knows?

Mistle Thrush on the Mistletoe

For years our ailing rowan tree had a clump of male mistletoe, the neighbour’s much healthier tree was host to a berry-laden female that attracted a Mistle Thrush. The bird has a cackling call unlike the melodious and repeating sound made by the Song Thrush.*

Mistle Thrush in the mistletoe
Mistle Thrush in the mistletoe

Then, a couple of years ago, we sprouted a berry-laden female of our own and now the Mistle Thrush jealously guards its crop from other birds that might snaffle its berries.

The scientific name for this bird is Turdus viscivorus. Turdus is Latin for thrush, viscum is Latin for sticky. European Mistletoe Viscum album, album meaning white (for the colour of the berries).

Now, mistletoe is a hemi-parasite that relies on its berries being eaten by birds like the Mistle Thrush to complete its reproductive cycle. The bird’s digestive tract does not process the whole berry and it will excrete a dollop of partially digested berry with an intact seed within. The sticky mass requires a wipe and how better than to do that against the bark of a tree. Once detached from the avian cloaca, the dollop of berry with seed will germinate and embed into the host tree. It will tap into the tree’s nutrient and water supply, but as you can see mistletoe is not wholly parasitic, this evergreen species is replete with chlorophyll in its leaves and can carry out photosynthesis to make sugars from water and atmospheric carbon dioxide. Some of the sugars it makes will most likely help sustain its tree host.

Incidentally, mistletoe berries are not actually berries, they’re drupes. A berry is defined botanically as a fleshy fruit produced from a single plant ovary, with seeds embedded in the flesh. Examples include tomatoes and blueberries. A drupe, by contrast, is a fruit with an outer fleshy part and a hard, stony pit that encloses the seed examples of drupes are cherries, peaches, olives, and mistletoe berries. It’s worth noting that they are potentially fatally toxic, so if you do hang some mistletoe at Christmas, be cautious if you have pets and children around. American Mistletoe is a different species and less toxic but ingestion is still capable of giving you a serious stomach upset.

The presence of mistletoe on trees is a good sign of low atmospheric pollution in the neighbourhood.

*I strongly suspect that the bird in the song A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square (lyrics Eric Maschwitz, music Manning Sherwin, 1939) was actually a Song Thrush, rather than the less common summer visitor, the Nightingale, which would likely not have frequented the urban environment of Mayfair even before World War II. The song was actually written in Le Lavandou, a fishing village in France, where Nightingales were probably heard far more often than in the posh bits of London.

Natural Highlights for 2024

In recent years, I’ve pulled together an end of year diary entry to remind me and Mrs Sciencebase of the various natural sightings we’ve had during the year. I normally post it on New Year’s Eve, but am bringing it forward this year so that it sits as the most recent blog post as we approach Christmas. It’s just notes rather than a proper article, simply une aide mémoire.

So, strangely, we spent some of New Year’s Day 2024 hanging around the railway station in Great Shelford rather than trekking the north Norfolk coast. We were there to watch the irruption of Waxwings feeding on mistletoe berries. They stayed high, but would occasionally swoop in to take the presumably much more palatable rowan berries from the shorter trees. I think we’d peaked at 34 birds at the end of December here. Too many twitchers and toggers around, the birds were showing, but nervous.

Fewer Red Kites at the landfill this winter, but still got some nice closeups in early January. Also, several thousand starlings murmurating during the day there, and active hares on the neighbouring farmland.

Great views of the Holkham (Norfolk) Shore Larks this year when we finally got to North Norfolk for a visit. Distant dogwalkers flushed the birds from their feeding patch and sent the birds in our direction. They settled about 50 metres away. Also saw Ruff and Pink-footed Geese on that trip. We stayed at Briarfields hotel next to RSPB Titchwell. Red Kites over the fields behind during breakfast.

A White Stork turned up on farmland in Cottenham having spent more time a little further out, mid-February.

Once again, we are with spawn by 22nd February in the garden pond. Tadpoles a few weeks later.

Watched enormous Starling murmurations at RSPB Ouse Fen (Earith). First visit, perhaps half a million birds murmurating at between half a mile and a mile away. Four Short-eared Owls beforehand. Also, a pair of Cranes in to roost just before the Starlings went to bed. Next visit, just a couple of hundred thousand, but they were very close and overhead at various times. The Starlings settled to roost in the reedbeds close to the car park. Next visit with Mrs Sciencebase, Short-eared Owls again and Chinese Water Deer. Visit after that very few Starlings, a thousand or so, but several Bittern calling a sight of one on a hop from spot to spot in the reeds.

Three Russian White-fronted Geese at RSPB Berry Fen hanging out with some Greylags. Nice close views, early March.

Big flock of Black-tailed Godwit in the distance not far from Swavesey Lake, also Pintail there and Great White Egret (as ever), mid-March. There were also at least 13 Cattle Egrets in one of the fen drains not far from the guided busway dropoff.

17th March, spotted a male Orange Tip butterfly. First of the year for me and first recorded nationally in 2024. It was a week earlier than Orange tip in our region according to first appearance records going back to 2007.

20th March – my first Small Tortoiseshell of the year on a walk near Swavesey Lake with Andy H. Also 34 Cattle Egrets. Largest flock of that species I’ve seen.

17th April – Spotted a Sandwich Tern fishing at Brownshill Staunch. I alerted the Over Birders’ WhatsApp group, all very excited, it ended up at Ferry Lagoon, Fen Drayton. Stayed for several days.

14th May – Northern Lights at Henley-on-Thames while camping, basically white stripes in the night sky, if only we’d known, we’d have done some long exposure, night, shots with phones and seen the colours.

24th May – Failed miserably to see the Red-footed Falcon at RSPB Fen Drayton, but there were numerous Hobby. Did see the Great Reed Warbler at RSPB Ouse Fen (Earith).

June – Butterflying and birding trip to Greece

July – Pair of Black-winged Stilt on Smithy Fen.

August – Lovely week in Blakeney on the north Norfolk coast, seals, birds (Spoonbills, Sandwich Terns, Wood Sandpiper, Green Sandpiper etc, moths

Early September – moth numbers up, Convolvulus Hawk-moth again, but also some lovely new species including Palpita vitrealis and Clouded Magpie. Also female Tawny Owls calling from somewhere on Pelham Way rather than the gardens behind us.

15 September – Osprey (juvenile female and briefly an adult) at Milton Country Park. Apparently, still present as of 7 October.

September – Red and Fallow Deer at Bradgate Park, en route to Tidza.

October – We didn’t try to see the Lisbon/Tegus flamingos in the end. We did tick a few bird species in Belém and in the Lisbon Botanic Gardens etc including Crested Myna, Black Redstart, Blue-crowned and Rose-ringed Parakeets, Short-toed Treecreeper etc. Meanwhile, Yellow-browed Warblers in Milton while we were in Lisbon.

11th October – Northern Lights over Cottenham, after choir. Mostly a diffuse red glow filling much of the sky.

15th October – Tallying moths, 40 per session compared with 80+ in 2019. 334 species though, so diversity roughly the same year on year.

October – 17th. Bittern, Great White Egrets, beardies, and then…juvenile Purple Heron at RSPB Earith.

October – 20th and 21st – last chance in 2024 for Snettisham Wader Spectaculars…will we get there?

November – 10th. My first Black-spotted Chestnut, outside the trap. Nice species, a little like an SHC but with the markings “broken” up.

November – 13th. Starling Murmurations (several thousand birds) and one Short-eared Owl so far at Ouse Fen, Earith

November – 15th. Definitely not a natural highlight, but we said goodbye to my Dad today and gave him a tremendous send-off.

December – I dipped out on the Penduline Tit that was spotted at RSPB Ouse Fen, Earith.

December – 30th to New Year’s Day – North Norfolk (Hunstanton, Holkham, Wells, Titchwell) – No Glaucous Gull, no Shorelark, but Long-billed Dowitcher at Hlkham, lots of Brent Geese at Wells, Black-winged Stilt, Tawny Owl, Scarlet Elfcup, Candlesnuff at Titchwell. More about our end of year trip in a separate article.

Bearded Reedling redux

The Bearded Reedling used to be known as the Bearded Tit. The name change wasn’t down to some odd political stance. After all, the Great Tit, Blue Tit, Long-tailed Tit, and even the Penduline Tit are all still tits.

Beardie taking flight
Beardie taking flight

No, the rationale for the rename is that the Beardie is not a tit all. It may have some of the charactertistics of the Long-tailed Tit, well, basically a long tail, but those are purely superficial similarities. The Beardie doesn’t fit into the tit family.

Female and male Bearded Reedling
Female and male Bearded Reedling

The Beardie is not in any genus in which the proper tits sit. In fact, the Bearded Reedling, Panurus biarmicus, (sometimes known as the Bearded Parrotbill) is the only known extant species within the Panurus genus. There are likely to have been others in the past, but those are extinct, not extant.

Male Bearded Reedling
Male Bearded Reedling

The British Trust for Ornithology, BTO, says 695 breeding pairs in UK. RSPB website says 630, although it said that back in 2018 when I wrote about the species back then. I don’t think their data are updated often enough, estimates on counts have presumably changed in that time.

Photographing birds from the comfort of the settee

Busy day, no chance to get out birding or togging, even. Moreover, it was dull and grey, so not great for capturing avian beauty. That said, I was setting up the new lens on my Canon R7 adjusting the customised settings buttons, a Canon RF 100-500mm F4.5-7.1L IS USM. Once I’d done that I snapped a cheeky Robin that landed on the bushes in the front garden after it was chased in by a male Blackbird. It sat on its usual perch and the Blackbird didn’t bother it again.

Anyway, photographed in low light from the comfort of the settee through the double glazing, the bird largely in shadow. Camera settings: shutter speed: 1/500s, aperture: f/7.1, ISO 4000, lens pulled to full extent 500mm.

Denoising with DxO PureRaw 4. Original and the left, denoised on the right
Denoising with DxO PureRaw 4. Original and the left, denoised on the right of the split image

I processed the image with DxO PureRaw4 as I generally do, see above. The reason I mention it so often is that it does an incredible job denoising job. I reckon it effectively pulls your image down 3-4 stops of ISO; my ISO 4000 is thus being cleaned to the noise levels one might expect at much better ISO of between 250 and 500. There’s no way I’d get a properly exposed shot with these light levels and that shutters peed at such a low ISO.

 

I then did a quick levels edit and crop in PSP to show a fellow togger:

Quick PSP edit of the DNG output from DxO
Quick PSP edit of the DNG output from DxO

Finally, I did a more detailed edit of the kind I would do before uploading to my socials:

Through-windows Robin processed in DxO PureRaw and then PaintshopPro
Through-windows Robin processed in DxO PureRaw and then PaintshopPro

Planet Earith: Great White Egret, Ardea alba

Another heron at RSPB Ouse Fen (Earith). There were 4 or 5 flying around. This is the Great White Egret, Ardea alba. It’s about the size of a Grey Heron, but white.

Great White Egret in flight against a leafy fenland backdrop
Great White Egret in flight against a leafy fenland backdrop

Quite a rarity in the UK, until maybe about 10 years ago, but like Little Egret, Cattle Egret, Glossy Ibis, and various other herons, it’s becoming an almost everyday sight in these here parts. I’ve seen perhaps 6 or 7 on the same patch at a different reserve, where there were also dozens of Little Egret and numerous Grey Heron. The GWE is not quite as common as the Little Egret now, but was removed from the “mega” list quite some time ago. It is far more common than the Purple Heron I mentioned recently.

Great White Egret is ostensibly an African/Mediterranean bird like those others. However, the species has been extending its range into Europe and the UK in recent years. Nudged by climate change, perhaps the main driving force is the presence of lots of crayfish in lakes in northern France that have given it a food source and the potential to hop across the channel. Once here, they find the old East Anglian gravel pits that are now full of water and marked as nature reserves a perfect home from home, it seems. Fairly common on the Somerset Levels these days too.

Local Purple Heron, Ardea purpurea

Back in June, we enjoyed seeing a lot of birds, butterflies, and moths in Greece. Many, if not most, of those were species rarely, if ever, seen in the UK. One bird we had a shout out from our skipper on Lake Kerkini was the Purple Heron, Ardea purpurea. I must confess I wasn’t quick enough to get a photo on the boat trip and not entirely sure I actually saw it among the Squacco and Night Herons that were in the reed as we rippled past.

Purple Heron in flight
Juvenile Purple Heron in flight, wings down

Anyway, I was out looking for Bearded Reedlings at RSPB Ouse Fen (Earith), there were lots. A Bittern came up from the reeds briefly and ducked back down, as they do. There were also four Great White Egrets flying about. But, it was the odd-looking heron in the distance that was the most intriguing…it definitely wasn’t another Bittern, but didn’t look quite right for a Grey Heron.

When I got back to base camp, I checked the photos. It was obvious on zooming in on the photo Purple Heron, Ardea purpurea. Juvenile. The species is smaller and more slender than the Grey Heron, markings are different, and overall it has darker plumage. The species is more commonly found in Africa, central and southern Europe. However, juveniles do occasionally spread their wings from the near Continent between August and October and end up in East Anglia and beyond. Sighting now with the County Bird Recorder, Jon Heath.

Purple Heron in flight
Purple Heron in flight, wings up

Mrs Sciencebase remembered there had been reports of that species earlier in the year locally. I checked on Birdguides and she was right, there had been one here back in the summer of 2023 and a scattering of others over the last few years. Indeed, earliest Birdguides record I can see on the app is summer 2003 at Needingworth (which is now part of RSPB Ouse Fen).

Looking at the national sightings on the app, I can see sightings of Purple Heron in Somerset, Shropshire, Norfolk, Devon, Suffolk, Jersey during September and October.

This is one of my natural highlights of 2024. I will give you a full update of those on New Year’s Eve!

Of parakeets and parks

There are several species of parakeet present in European cities alongside the Rose-ringed, or Ring-necked, Parakeet, Psittacula krameri, also known as the Kramer Parrot. The others are Blue-crowned Parakeet, Thectocercus acuticaudatus, the Alexandrine Parakeet, P. eupatria, and the Monk Parakeet, Myiopsitta monachus. If we’re talking parrots in general, there’s also the Common Parakeet, perhaps better known as the Budgerigar, Melopsittacus undulatus.

Rose-ringed Parakeet
Rose-ringed Parakeet

The Rose-ringed Parakeet is well known in city parks and green spaces with trees across Europe from Athens to Amsterdam, Barcelona to Bonn, and Lisbon to London, and even as far north as Newcastle. The common sub-species in those cities is native to Africa but has adapted successfully to living in disturbed and urban habitats having escaped deforestation. Their presence in London has nothing to do with an imagined publicity stunt by Jimi Hendrix.

Rose-ringed Parakeets were and presumably still are a popular pet bird species and so escapees have fed into the feral populations. It is naturalised in many places now, breeding as if native. But, it is considered a pest in places where the sub-species in India has bred into massive colonies, but in Europe there does not seem to be a need to cull them. Peregrines, Hobbies, and Tawny Owls will all predate Rose-ringed.

Blue-crowned Conures, or Parakeets
Blue-crowned Parakeets, Lisbon Botanical Gardens

Meanwhile, the Blue-crowned Parakeet is a native of South America. It is generally found from eastern Colombia to Curaçao in the southern Caribbean to the northern parts of Argentina. It prefers savanna-like habitats, woodland, and forest margins and so is generally not present in dense, humid forest like the Amazon. Introduced, as one might expect, to the USA, specifically south Florida, California, and Hawaii. It is now present in several cities across Europe too, Barcelona, Lisbon, Milan, Paris, Zürich, and on the Canary Islands.

Blue-crowned Parakeet
Blue-crowned Parakeet

A Blue-crowned Parakeet nest with eggs, subsequently predated, was observed in 2001 in Lewisham, southeast London.