Les Perroquets Parisiens Encore

The first time I realized that there were parrots in Paris was in 2010 on a really cold nasty Paris afternoon: I had just gotten to the entrance of Parc Montsourris and I heard that shrieking call that they make.

I was familiar with that sound because there is a flock in Seward Park in Seattle; and they sound just the same.

So as I got into the Parc I was on alert for that sound.

I finally actually saw some and got some pictures that were of the sort people present as evidence of flying saucers.

But over time I persisted and began to get some pretty good images.

One of them has even become a painting by avian artist Kim Middleton.

Here is an in-process status report image that Kim emailed me during her creation of the painting:

The finished product is even more spectacular.

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In 2012 I discovered that there was a flock of these birds in le Jardin des Plantes. 

That one, possibly with the help of several tube feeders, has become quite large.

I have gotten many really good pictures from le Jardin since 2012.

In 2014 I began to see these birds in Le Bois Vincennes.

The only place I’ve been able to get any pictures is on the island. 

The flock sits over there and makes a lot of noise and periodically shoots back and forth across the water.

I don’t have a camera, nor do I have the skill, if I did have a camera set up for that sort of shooting opportunity, to capture green bullets hurtling through space.

So I pretty much have to follow the squawks and hope to get a shot of one at rest in a tree.

I haven’t seen any yet in le Bois de Boulogne.

From that first encounter in 2010 I wondered if there were any parrots in Le Jardin de Luxembourg.

On a really cold grey day in 2012 I saw the first one there.

And since then there has become a pretty good sized flock.

But I have never been able to get a decent picture of any of them: too high in the trees; too dark a day for any contrast, bird with sky, and all those other things that make trying to get pictures of birds a maddening hobby.

But yesterday all conditions conspired in my favor.

Here are the four best images of a parrot sitting very high in a chestnut tree.