Usually the parrots and I share the crop from my two large Nashi pear trees. I get hundreds of fruit from the lower branches and they take even more hundreds from the higher ones.
Nashis ripen well off the tree so I can pick them when big enough, but not quite ripe, and layer them in foam boxes indoors. If I get a large wheelbarrow full from each tree I am happy. Last year I had so many I made Nashi pear wine, or Perry.
They are different varieties, as is needed for cross-pollination: Hosui, with grainy brown skin, and Nijisseiki, a smooth greenish-yellow. Their texture and taste are different too, and the Hosui ripens to a honey sweetness that is foreign to anyone who has only tried Nashis straight from a supermarket.
But this year there is not a single fruit left on either tree. The entire crop has been eaten or knocked to the ground, along with a great many leaves, now turning black amid the mushed fruit. As you can see, they haven’t left me any salvageable scraps.
Crimson Rosellas like this one are a major culprit but so are the red and green King Parrots, who are more elusive — or guilty.
Thank you for sharing..Amazing..!!
Thanks Laura; that sounds right. I don’t have lorikeets here; pretty birds, but as noisy as cockies!
Sharyn, my husband says they are lorikeets. They are predominantly green and very very cheeky! Laura.
My hearty sympathies, Laura! A good idea for next summer.
Unfortunately the Nashi trees are too big to net.
What sort of parrots take over your orchard?
Sharyn, this year I lost all my nectarines I had nurtured all season to the naughty parrots. I have never minded sharing but to lose the entire crop was heartbreaking, especially when I discovered they had one or two nibbles and then moved to the next nectarine! Next year I will net them and leave SOME out for the cheeky darlings to have. Cheers, Laura.
Hi DWG, as always, you bring us a fresh northern perspective of the very different birds in your garden. Seems you agree with Denis’ comment then.
Even though I have so many Crimson Rosellas I have not become complacent about their beauty; I just wish they were less greedy.
So sorry Sharyn that the pears were taken…however if something so beautiful as that Rosella would come to my backyard I would buy the pears and attach them to the tree!!! Breathtaking is all I can say!!
My feeders are all filled with Sunflower seeds in this cold weather, and that along with all the berries etc. have brought in so many birds that I can hardly accomplish my work and watch them too…Goldfinches..Nuthatches..Wrens..Eastern Bluebirds..Juncos..Thrashers..to name a few.. and they are wonderful, but none so colorful as that Rosella!!!! DWG
Denis, I never mind sharing, but this is indeed unfair. My Dad always planted one-third more corn than he needed – for the white cockatoos. Am sure your gardeners would be happy with that and their Rosey fruit.
I prefer my Rosellas to those shrieking cockatoos –for colour and sound!
Hi Sharyn
That is pretty unfair of the feather thieves – to not leave you any for brewing with.
Mind you, I often say to local gardeners here:
“Imagine if you grew a tree which had fruit as colourful as Rosellas!”
Cheers
Denis