Winter in the tropics; Amsterdam, January 19 & 20

Last weekend I spent a lot of time in a cold and snowy park in Amsterdam North, in order to find out how many Ring-necked Parakeets currently roost in the northern part of the city. Sunday’s count was part of a national count, the second for this winter, but I figured it would be smart to find out what to expect and conduct an extra count the night before the official count, as I always prefer to do.

On Saturday I counted 823 birds in a relatively compact group, divided over five trees. The following day, when I was joined by Ruud Vlek, the moment of the bird’s arrival to the roost site (at dusk) coincided with a snow storm. Thankfully, it was not as cold as the previous day and, when not facing the direction of the wind, we still managed to conduct a proper count. Unfortunately, a large number of parakeets decided not to fight the storm and these slept elsewhere, probably closer to their foraging areas (although that same night a keen observer noted elsewhere that at least one parakeet decided to roost in a nest hole). Ruud and I counted only 270 birds, divided up into relatively small groups that occupied trees, at a much greater distance from each other.

So, although Sunday’s count will not have resulted in a complete picture of the number of parakeets present in the area, we did learn something about the bird’s behavior during the harshest days of the year.  

A few winters ago the roost site was being used by a few thousand parakeets, coming from all wind directions, in particular from the south and east. In order to reach the roost site these birds had to cross a large lake (‘the IJ’) behind the Central Station. This went without a problem for a few years, but the appearance of Peregrine Falcons on the former Shell tower/Overhoeks (overlooking the IJ and in between this lake and the roost site) probably has deterred these birds from roosting in Amsterdam North. By now a number of Peregrine prey remains have been collected from the tower, including an interesting number of parakeets. At least one falcon was present on the 19^th.

A photo from January 2012; The IJ and on the right the rock that's in the way of many parakeets. The parakeets' roost site is located to the right of the tower.