I have gone a bit overboard with a stack of photos of Singleton Park but has anyone seen Pete the Parakeet recently? Every summer Pete disappears and I am always happy to see him return but each year I wonder have we seen the last of him. I think there are 2 reasons for him absconding from the park in the summer and one is because his buddies the jackdaws leave the park and the other is lack of food. Parakeets eat flower buds and fruits and in summer the park becomes rather drab and no buds or flowering buds for Pete. The only bit of colour is the small patch of wild flowers up the top end and those in the Botanical Gardens. In spring and even winter there are plenty of buds. Some of the rhododendrons in the park burst into flower as early as January and Pete pecks away at those. Pete has bonded with the Jackdaws and I took some interesting photos and video footage this year of further interaction between him and the jackdaws. There were a pair of nesting jackdaws in a hole in a tree and a 3rd interloping jackdaw was trying to get in on the action. He entered the nest a number of times and was turfed out by the resident pair, somewhat like being kicked out of a bar in Wind St on a Saturday night by bouncers. Pete seemed to be very upset by this which is better seen on the video. Last year there were sightings of him on the Gower in late summer raiding peoples apple trees and I assume he was there with the jackdaws?? Nothing wrong with that, I used to rob apples when I was a kid. The park is very quiet this time of year as well as being less colourful. The only birds that seem to hang around in summer are the pigeons, magpies, some crows and some songbirds but nowhere near as many as you see in the other seasons. Spring is probably the most colourful season for the park as can be seen in some of the photos. So, any recent sightings of Pete??? Is he still alive and OK?
Posted on: Sat, 20 Sep 2014 19:30:22 +0000
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