Some photos of birds

[stepr]

Some photos of birds and local

[Orion]

Some photos of birds and local

Thankyou for those. I guess the first photo to be a hen chaffinch? followed by a cock sparrow; think I have identified the other two photos as blue-tit and bullfinch - we don't have them here.

[Lacertae]

Nice bird shots !

[Richard]

Some photos of birds and local

Thankyou for those. I guess the first photo to be a hen chaffinch? followed by a cock sparrow; think I have identified the other two photos as blue-tit and bullfinch - we don't have them here.

Wow you know ya birds well Orion

Nice shots Stephen

[stepr]

spot on Orion! I'll see if I can find some more!

here's one not a great photo it's off the net but it was taken nearby



If anyone can guess it they get an internet star!

[Orion]

Baffled by that one; awaiting the answer!
[at the moment, inclining towards the "Spotted or Herbaceous Backson"]

[stepr]

The answer is in fact.. the Rose ringed parakeet, caught in a town called West Kirby, up the coast from here. It's a bit of nuisance actually, the species was accidently released by a circus group.. now the species is thriving a bit too well thanks to a the recent climate warming, and the government have a bit of a job on their hands.

It is regarding an invasive species, and as such culls have resulted, although there are so many that culls have been ineffective. Many bird books now include this in their native species section (I think they know as well as the government do that it is here to stay!

here's an article a few years ago: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/6478815.stm

[Richard]

They sound like they're as much of a nuisance as crows are to the South Island,they have culls on them here too which seems to be working.There's a colony not far from here that they have reduced there numbers down to about 10 from 100 20 years ago,problem is those last 10 are bloody hard get

[NZstorm]

problem is those last 10 are bloody hard get

That is the Rook and I thought I read they had got the last one, but maybe that was in the Hawkes bay. The North Shore Council successfully eradicated the Rainbow Lorikeet, but the Australian Rosella is very abundant now.

[Manukau heads obs]

I see the Rook was mentioned as being a pest in the waikato now, farmers are being asked to look out for it, in the crops, etc
its black and bigger than a magpie, and very intelligent and so hard to catch...

[Richard]

That is the Rook and I thought I read they had got the last one,

I'm certain the Rook & Crow are the same bird are they not

If thats the colony that's near Waikari you are referring to,i'm sure that they haven't managed to get the last few.

[Orion]

I'm certain the Rook & Crow are the same bird are they not

Rooks and Crows are two different species of Corvus
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Corvus_species
Crows are "covered with glossy black feathers from head to foot... Rooks have pale faces, because they have bare patches of whitish skin on their cheeks and between their eyes....Crows go about alone or in pairs, while Rooks like to live together in a neighbourly way... in Rookeries" - quoting my 'Book of the Countryside' by F.M. & L.T. Duncan, 1959 ed.

[Richard]

I'm certain the Rook & Crow are the same bird are they not

Rooks and Crows are two different species of Corvus
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Corvus_species
Crows are "covered with glossy black feathers from head to foot... Rooks have pale faces, because they have bare patches of whitish skin on their cheeks and between their eyes....Crows go about alone or in pairs, while Rooks like to live together in a neighbourly way... in Rookeries" - quoting my 'Book of the Countryside' by F.M. & L.T. Duncan, 1959 ed.

Oh ok thanks Orion,so the ones near Waikari would be the Rook then