Do nuthatches and parrots nest together? For over three weeks I have been watching a pair of both types of bird fly back and forth to a hole in a large oak tree. As the parrots leave, the nuthatches shoot in. Sometimes, they land a distance away and run up the bough to the site. I can't see the actual hole because it's at an angle, but they seem to vanish into the tree. (These are a single pair of large green parrots, not parakeets.)
Hi,
I wouldnt want to be a nuthatch within biting range of a nesting Parrot !
It sounds intriguing- any chance of a photo of the parrot ?
S
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Just an idea, but could it be that either the parrots or nuthatch store some nuts in the tree and the other is stealing them. Probably barking up the wrong tree----- sorry !!
Thanks for comments. I don't have any photos, though will try to take some. The parrots are about the same size as magpies, say about sixteen to eighteen inches in length, including the tail, though they are more slender than magpies. However, they're a bigger that the little green parakeets that are all over the South East. I live in SE London, so know the difference in size. They are blue-green with some yellow. I haven't noticed a neck ring.
This pair could be escaped pets. My desk is in a window where I work and I can see the tree clearly most of the day and have been watching the play between the parrots and the nuthatches. To start with it looked as if the parrots were pulling out bits of soft wood - or possibly, insects or a squirrel's supply of nuts (squirrels also live in the tree) then the nuthatches came along and started to worry away at the site, but now both pairs of birds seem to be in nesting mode. What I find fascinating is how they wait their turn on nearby branches. They don't skirmish. As soon as the parrots leave, the nuthatches fly in and vice versa. But I suppose if they're nesting, a bird would remain on the nest and the other bird would come to feed it? All in all, I'm mystified.
I tried to suggest an answer but pressed the wrong button!
Could these 'parrots' be Green Woodpeckers? Or have you seen the parrots beaks?I'm intrigued as this winter would surely have been too harse for a pair of parrots to have survived outside?
No, Petrirosso, they're not green woodpeckers. They're definitely parrots. I can see them right now as I type this (through binoculars) but since it's a bright sunny day, the colours and detail is a lot clearer than usual. They have red parrot beaks (both do, so wonder if they're both males? Though one has a brighter red beak than the other.) They have very long tail feathers, almost indigo blue on the top side and yellow to lime green underneath. When they fan out their wings to preen (as one is doing right now) the top of the wings are a kind of emerald green and the underside, across onto the breast is bright yellow. Their backs are blue-green. I still haven't been able to see a neck ring, and don't think they have one. One appears to have a blob of red on its head - but I can't see it clearly enough to confirm this.
Since they spend a lot of time in this same oak tree, and there's not a lot to eat in it ( I haven't observed them eating leaf buds) unless, as has been suggested, they have found a squirrel's cache of acorns in the hole they spend a lot of time investigating, I'm wondering if they live nearby in a house and are allowed to fly outside during the day. This would make sense in terms of surviving this recent harsh winter.
Hello rose I think you may ahve ring necked parakeets!
Coal
Birding , Birding, Birding !
Sorry, Coal, but I think they're too big for parakeets (they're 16 inches long) and as I have mentioned so far I haven't seen a neck ring. How long are ring neck parakeets?
The UK's only naturalised parrot - The ring Necked Parakeet is large, long-tailed and green with a red beak and a pink and black ring around its face and neck. In flight it has pointed wings, a long tail and very steady, direct flight. Often found in flocks, numbering hundreds at a roost site, it can be very noisy.
Sorry rose, if your birds arent these, then chances are they aren't parrots :(
They may have escaped from somebodys house!
LOL
Thanks for the photo, Coal - it is close. Very close. Same colours. But I have seen ring neck parakeets in large flocks in our local park and along the river Thames. "Mine" seem to be bigger, and with no ring that I can see, and there are only ever two on their own. Unfortunately, I can't take a photo - lost my camera.