What a talented lot......

Lets brighten up peoples live with all those lovely pictures of the world around us!

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Highbury Mark
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What a talented lot......

Post by Highbury Mark »

I’m blown away by the great images on this forum. I’ve never ventured into Sunlit Earth before, but it will now become part of my daily visit to Solarchat.
One of the very few positives to come out of lockdown has been working from home and watching the seasons pass by. At the start of 2020 I bought a nice pair of ED 8x42 Hawke binoculars, and even though I live in central London, I’ve been surprised just how many bird species have visited our garden throughout the year. Among the more surprising ones (at least for London) have been:
Lesser redpoll, great spotted woodpecker, blackcap, mistle thrush, dunnock, jay, grey heron (briefly), and a pied wagtail.
And hundreds of ring necked parakeets! One of the bizarre things about London is that the population of these largish green, invasive parakeets has exploded in recent years - they are everywhere, making a terrible racket. And now they are spreading across the rest of the country. There are many theories about how they came to be here. One is that two pet parakeets were freed by Jimi Hendrix when he lives in London during the 1960s. Another is that they escaped from the set of the African Queen, filmed at Ealing Studios in 1951. It remains a complete
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mystery.


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Re: What a talented lot......

Post by DeepSolar64 »

Some cities here in the US have parakeets too. I can remember seeing one here many years ago, probably a bird that had gotten loose or had been released. Our winters may be too cold here in the NC mountains to allow their survival. I am surprised that they can survive as far north as England.


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Re: What a talented lot......

Post by MapleRidge »

Hi Mark...

Nice to see your pic of the Parakeet, though I have to say I'm surprised they are in the numbers you mention. They are loud for sure! Please share pics of the other birds you mentioned too.

James, though England is further north its weather is moderated significantly by the surrounding water (no big continental landmass that acts like a heat/cold sink)...keeps the winters warmer and summers cooler too. The Gulf Stream carries warm water from the Gulf of Mexico north through the Atlantic, past the east coast of North America into the north Atlantic on the west coast of Europe. It's still a big island so the north is colder than the south, LOL.

Recent research discounts the effect of the Gulf Stream and puts more emphasis on wind patterns that keep the island bathed in the relatively warm air over the ocean.

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Re: What a talented lot......

Post by Montana »

Excellent Mark, please post pictures of sunsets, sunrises, birds, bees and anything Sunlit!

The new David Attenborough series took me by surprise last week, the opening line was our Sunlit Earth and how everything depends on our Star. This weeks episode is called 'The Sun'. I am sure Stephen would jump for joy to see this.

More Sunsets and nature please! they make us smile :)

Alexandra


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Re: What a talented lot......

Post by EGRAY_OBSERVATORY »

Very interesting subject and comments - thanks

Terry


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Re: What a talented lot......

Post by Highbury Mark »

Thanks everyone for your comments! The last official count of London parakeets was almost ten years ago, when there were 32,000 recorded. Estimates are that this has grown to a minimum of 50,000 today, and probably a lot more. They seem unconcerned by other large birds like crows and magpies, though rising numbers of sparrow hawks, tawny owls and peregrine falcons in the capitol are thought to be the result of easy parrot lunches.
I’m afraid the photo is the result of me pointing a phone camera at a website. But looking at all the stunning images on this forum I must start taking my own, so thanks for inspiring me.


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Re: What a talented lot......

Post by DeepSolar64 »

Montana wrote: Sun Jan 10, 2021 11:51 am Excellent Mark, please post pictures of sunsets, sunrises, birds, bees and anything Sunlit!

The new David Attenborough series took me by surprise last week, the opening line was our Sunlit Earth and how everything depends on our Star. This weeks episode is called 'The Sun'. I am sure Stephen would jump for joy to see this.

More Sunsets and nature please! they make us smile :)

Alexandra
I started watching the new David Attenbourough series last night. The new Discovery+ streaming channel has it and much more!


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Re: What a talented lot......

Post by DeepSolar64 »

MapleRidge wrote: Sun Jan 10, 2021 12:02 am Hi Mark...

Nice to see your pic of the Parakeet, though I have to say I'm surprised they are in the numbers you mention. They are loud for sure! Please share pics of the other birds you mentioned too.

James, though England is further north its weather is moderated significantly by the surrounding water (no big continental landmass that acts like a heat/cold sink)...keeps the winters warmer and summers cooler too. The Gulf Stream carries warm water from the Gulf of Mexico north through the Atlantic, past the east coast of North America into the north Atlantic on the west coast of Europe. It's still a big island so the north is colder than the south, LOL.

Recent research discounts the effect of the Gulf Stream and puts more emphasis on wind patterns that keep the island bathed in the relatively warm air over the ocean.

Brian
Yes, that brings the Ireland and the UK all those clouds too!


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