Injured bird – Mallee Ringneck Parrot
Mallee Ringneck Parrot
This morning I was busy at my desk in my home office when I was startled by a sudden loud thump on the glass of the window about a metre from me.
From time to time we are used to having birds fly into the glass of our windows. Usually the bird takes a few moments to recover before flying off. While it is stunned it is sometimes possible to get good close up photos of the bird in question.
I looked out the window but couldn’t see the poor victim. Grabbing my camera I raced outside. A Mallee Ringneck parrot was on the ground a few metres from the house, sitting quietly while it recovered from the shock. I quickly took the shots on this page before leaving it in peace to recover. I checked about ten minutes later and it had flown off.
I’ve always admired these beautiful parrots, but in examining the feathers up close in the morning sunlight highlighted the amazing colours of the feathers. This species is a resident breeding bird in our garden and nearby mallee scrub. This close encounter has given me a fresh appreciation of this bird.
Mallee Ringneck Parrot
Mallee Ringneck Parrot
I usually just read your posts quietly in my reader, but had to jump over and say wow! What gorgeous, gorgeous colours in those feathers!! Glad to hear the bird was just fine too…
That poor bird! Pretty birds also get injured!
Thanks for your comments SquiggleMum and Luke.
The bird in question didn’t suffer any permanent injuries and is still flying around happily in our garden.
[…] goes but we see it most weeks. It appears to be trying to form a loose alliance with our resident Mallee Ringneck parrots, but they have consistently rejected his […]
we have a mallee ring neck all of a sudden visting our port lincoln parrots daily now for a week. he keeps coming to the cage bobbing his head then kissing my parrot through the cage? what is it doing? he has a beautiful sound when he shakes his wings, like a constant quick ring tone. i am stressing he is a pet as i have never seen him around before. wont let me get near him.
Hi Sandra,
This is typical breeding behaviour in the Australian Ringnecks. The visiting bird is obviously trying to attract a mate – it is probably a male trying to attract a female.
You did not mention where you live. Mallee ringnecks are found east of Spencer Gulf (SA) and Port Lincoln Parrots (also called Twenty Eights) west of the gulf. In the Flinders Ranges they do interbreed resulting in some interesting colour variations. Because the various sub-species can interbreed and produce fertile young, they are all regarded as one species – Australian Ringnecks.
Hi again Sandra,
Thanks for your email in reply. I have copied your email below to keep the thread going here on my site. Other readers may find your comments interesting:
My apologies Trevor, i live at Salisbury East South Australia. I am really enjoing the ringneck visiting. He comes daily without fail now. I just hope he does not get hurt by the magpies as they dont seem to like him as they keep swooping him. I also hope that if he is trying to win the female over that it doesnt affect my two port lincoln parrots mating as i bought them as a pair. Do you think i should try and catch this mallee or is it normal for this type of bird to be living in the wild here?
Thank you so much for replying i really appreciate it.
Sandra
Hi again Sandra,
Mallee Ringnecks here in this part of South Australia tend to be naturally occurring mainly east of the Mt Lofty Ranges – mainly in the mallee regions east of the Murray River. However, I have found that in general, many birds do not study the field guides to see where they SHOULD be living and they can turn up in the most unexpected places. LOL.
Mallee Ringnecks have been recorded as far west as near Williamstown which is not all that far from Salisbury East, so it is entirely possible for the bird you are seeing to be part of a natural extension of its range.
On the other hand, it is also very likely that it has escaped from someone’s aviary and has been attracted by your birds. In this case it may hang around for company.
If you don’t want it bothering your birds you could always discourage it by giving it a squirt of water from a hose when it comes around. (Might work – then again, it might enjoy a free shower!)
As for catching it, you would be advised to keep it separate from the Port Lincolns. I’m also not sure about the regulations for keeping this species but I do know that there are strict rules about keeping some of our native birds in captivity.
i dont have it in me to scare it off, love these birds too much lol if keeping him attracted to my parrots is what is keeping him safe then i am happy for him to hang around. i hope it is wild so it knows how to survive. i wish i could catch him so i could buy him a mate, feel sad he doesnt have a partner. thank you for your knowledge and help its much appreciated.
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