Monday, June 22, 2015

The story of the little town parrots

I was in Little India having some fun locating street art in the back alleys. While photographing people who collect cardboard boxes for recycling, I heard a familiar tweeter of my little nemesis - the blue-crowned hanging parrot. It sounded close, like directly above me.

As luck would have it, I threw in my old 70-300mm lens for the just in case moments. This wonderful looking male stayed low and he was fearless. I didn't know why as I was just too engrossed in taking photos of this little nemesis that kept eluding me for years.
It wasn't till later when it descended lower that I realized, that all the time I was dancing under the tree, there was a female right next to me in a nest hole.
What a great way to discover the secret life of the enigmatic blue-crowned hanging parrot. Who would have thought that this little parrot (only 13 cm large), a supposed forest dweller has adapted to city living in Singapore. 
I've heard them tweeting merrily along our CBD area. My guess is they approve of the trees NParks has planted. Since there's enough flowering trees and ample small tree cavities in the relatively mature trees, they are breeding outside of the forest.
The pair I chanced upon weren't particularly upset nesting so close to all the human activity humming around the tree they picked. It looks like they don't nest in flocks but in individual pairs where ever nesting holes are available.

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