Galahs in the rain

The Galah is possibly Australia’s best known parrot. We often have flocks of Galahs flying over our house and garden. Sometimes these flocks land in one of the large mallee trees on our 2 hectare (5 acre) property. These flocks vary in size from a half dozen or less up to 50 to a hundred.

During some rain recently I was aware of some noisy Galahs in the tall tree just outside my office. It seemed to be more than the usual few noisy individuals. Sure enough, on checking outside, there were some 60-80 in the tree. No wonder they were noisy. I must have disturbed them because they all took flight. They only went about fifty metres before alighting on the power lines out the front of our place, joining the 250 or so already lined up along the wire.

Large flocks of this size are not unusual. They can be quite noisy when they all start calling together.