From: Philip Hechle <hechle@wananchi.com>

Date: 2011-11-10 15:11

Subject: Grey Parrots in Spring Valley

Dear All,

We first saw these 2 Grey Parrots about 5 years ago, and they have been living in the Spring Valley Road area ever since.

Obviously they are escapees, but have survived remarkably well, and have become completely feral now.  They are heard screeching and calling most mornings and evenings.  At the moment they are feeding on the seeds of two Erythrina, Lucky Bean trees in our garden.  They also frequently perch on a Safaricom mobile phone tower in an adjacent garden.    

They always remain in the canopy of the trees, and will never come any lower.  Originally, I was concerned for their safety and survival, and tried to entice them down on to a bird table with suitable juicy fruit, in the hope of being able to catch them to release them in the Kakamega forest.   However, I gave up on that idea ages ago as they refuse to come any lower and seem to be doing very well.     

We have a family of Pied Crows nesting in a tall Araucaria tree in our garden, and occasionally they chase the parrots, but generally they seem to tolerate each other.

We presume they must be same-sex birds, as no baby parrots have been sighted yet. 

Recently both the parrots have been very vocal and seen much more often in this area than in the past.

Good birding!

Philip.