I can hear them, but all I can see are small leaves raining down where they should be perched up in the trees.
But the fully leafed out trees make it difficult to see this chameleon-like bird.
I'm talking about the flock of green parakeets that call
Istanbul home.
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| Bottom right corner, you can see the green parakeet up in the tree. |
This week, I've been walking my friend's dog every morning through
Emirgan Korusu (Emirgan Park). And every morning, I've been able to catch a glimpse of these green parakeets.
When I do see them, I also feel like I'm in that old M&M Christmas commercial, where Santa Claus runs into the walking pair of M&M's and says "They do exist."
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| Here, you can see an outline of the parakeet in the middle of the photo. |
Earlier this year in my
8 hours in Istanbul post, I mentioned I've only seen these elusive green parakeets one other time near the
Topkapı Sarayı (Topkapi Palace).
The story goes, according to several long-time expats, that the green parakeets were on a cargo ship in the Bosphorus several years ago. The birds escaped, adapted to the climate and now there are a couple hundred living here.
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| Well, I was kind of able to capture one of the parakeets in flight. They are fast! |
I've never seen them near Beşiktaş where we live, probably because its a densely populated area with few green spaces.
However, this week, I've been enjoying watching these green parakeets flit about in the trees and hearing them call to each other. I tried to capture a few photos during my walks in Emirgan, but you really need a telephoto lens for best results.
Have you seen these green parakeets in Istanbul or perhaps elsewhere in Turkey?
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| As I was leaving Emirgan Park this morning, I noticed these wild raspberry bushes and treated myself to a ripened berry. |
14 comments:
how cool!
. . there were great flocks of these spreading along the North Kent coast when I lived in the UK. Amazingly adaptable creatures.
@Joyce, yes it is! ;-)
@Alan, interesting! I wonder where they originated from then. From Turkey to the UK? Hitchhiking birds? ;-)
Joy, I think the berries are blackberries, don't you?
I've never seen the parakeets in either Istanbul or Kent, but I'll keep my eyes open next time.
The third picture looks a bit ominous. I'm wondering if Joy caught the prince of darkness in a parakeet form.
Hi Joy, I remember spotting a few in Yildiz Park; worth a try? Wished we had more green parks especially in Istanbul.
So look forward to seeing you in Istanbul soon!:) x Ozlem
@Barbara, The berries probably are blackberries, but they didn't quite taste like it either. I'll keep sampling them as they ripen here. :-)
@Jason, ha ha! You've seen the parakeets too now.
@Ozlem, I actually haven't set foot in Yildiz Park yet, so I should do that. Looking forward to meeting you as well!
Hi Joy,
It's Melinda from the PAWI group. Funny enough, I didn't realize this was your blog; I read it on Google reader, so I never see your profile picture.
Anyway, to the birds. I've seen a green parakeet once, in our neighborhood, 4.Levent. I didn't realize there was a flock of them -- we thought it was someone's pet that had escaped. :)
Hi Melinda, Thanks for reading! Yep, I bake and I blog. Since we've been hanging out at Emirgan Park this past week, we've noticed hordes of these green parakeets. And you can always hear them squawking away before you see them. ;-)
San Francisco has a similar flock of parakeets. Boy, are they noisy? We encountered them twice this past weekend.
@Mary, Interesting! I understand there are several groups/flocks of these parakeets around the world! Hopefully, they aren't harmful at least. :-)
I just came back from few days in Istanbul, an I saw these parakeets too. As I'm a kind of birder (well, the Sunday type...), I had my binos with me and so I managed to identify many of the ones I saw as Alexandrine Parakeets, Psittacula eupatria and googling for "wild parrot istambul" confirms that. I saw them mainly near Topkapi.
@Liisa, Thanks for your helpful information and for posting on one of my older blog posts! ;-) I've seen the green parakeets by Topkapi too. It's interesting bc the Sultans used to have all sorts of exotic animals and birds at the palace. Hope you had a fantastic trip in Istanbul!
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