Archive for the 'Parrots and Lorikeets' Category

Eastern Rosella – a new species for our garden list

1 Comment »17th October, 2009; Category: Bird Behaviour, Garden birds, Murray Bridge, Parrots and Lorikeets

Eastern Rosella

Eastern Rosellas are one of the colourful parrot species to be found here in Australia. It is a relatively common parrot found in south eastern Australia and Tasmania. It has been introduced into the Mt Lofty Ranges and Adelaide region of south Australia as well as New Zealand.

Here in Murray Bridge I’ve only recorded it once several years ago. On that occasion it appeared to be an aviary escape. The nearest naturally occurring birds are some 60 kilometres to the west.

Over recent days we have had a single Eastern Rosella flying around our garden. This is a new species for my garden list. It does not appear to be a cage bird as it is very flighty. I struggled to get close enough for a reasonable photo. The photos on this post have been enhanced – zoomed in and brightened to show the beautiful colours. Consequently they are not top quality shots.

Eastern Rosella

The behaviour of this individual was interesting. We have several Mallee Ringnecks resident on our property. Recently they produced two young ones that follow them everywhere and beg to be fed. The Eastern Rosella tried to adopt this family who were having none of it. They tried to chase it away but it was most insistent and would fly up and sit close to one of the ringnecks. The ringnecks would then attempt to chase it away again. This continued for about twenty minutes before the rosella gave and flew away. It has been back several times so I don’t know whether it intends taking up residence or not.

It would be a very colourful addition to our garden birds.

Eastern Rosella

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Mallee Ringneck parrots nesting

1 Comment »25th September, 2009; Category: Bird Behaviour, Garden birds, Nests, Parrots and Lorikeets

Mallee Ringneck parrot

Almost every day we have two or more Mallee Ringneck parrots in our garden or nearby. We love to have these colourful parrots flying around and feeding in the trees, grasses and bushes around our house. The only time they are not welcome is when they take to our ripening pears and other fruits. In many cases they eat the unripe fruit, so I hope they gets some pains in their little stomachs for damaging our fruit.

In recent weeks two of them have been hanging around one of the trees near the garage. This is an old growth mallee which could well be over a century old. Being so old it has developed several hollow branches. They have been fussing around one of the larger hollows, sitting on the branch, walking along a nearby branch, entering the hollow and sitting in it. Are they a pair? And are they preparing to nest in this hollow?

We can’t be certain that this is a genuine breeding attempt. We will just have to keep an eye on the situation – and have the camera at the ready.

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Mallee Ringneck parrot

Possible Galah nesting attempt

8 Comments »18th September, 2009; Category: Bird Behaviour, Garden birds, Murray Bridge, Nests, Parrots and Lorikeets, Photos

Galahs at nesting hollow

The beautiful Galah is a very common bird around where we live in Murray Bridge, South Australia. Flocks of several hundred are a common sight in the summer months.

Over the last few weeks two Galahs have been investigating a hollow in an old growth mallee tree near our house. This hollow is in clear view from where we often have meals on our new back veranda. The tree is about 30 metres away.

I hesitate to call them a “pair” because I haven’t actually seen them mating. I have strong reasons for calling them as such because one is a male and the other is a female and they are displaying typical nesting behaviour. (The female has a red eye, the male a dark brown eye.)

This pair has been hanging around this hollow for several hours every day now for many weeks. Both often go into the hollow to check it out. I can’t tell if they are actually enlarging it or not. They allow us to get quite close to the tree without flying off.

Then last week while we were having lunch they started breaking small leafy twigs off the tree and taking them into the hollow to line their nest. Seems fairly conclusive to me.

The only downside it that we will have to put up with some very noisy little neighbours later in the year. Baby Galahs can be very demanding and very noisy.

I’ve taken quite a few photos. Below is a selection of the best of them. Click on the photo to enlarge the image.

Galahs at nesting hollow

Galah at nesting hollow

Galahs at nesting hollow

Galahs nesting

1 Comment »9th August, 2009; Category: Bird Behaviour, Garden birds, Nests, Parrots and Lorikeets, Plants

Galahs at a hollow

Over the last few weeks several Galahs have been hanging around a hollow in one of our mallee trees near our house. This is the largest tree on our property and is probably well over a hundred years old-maybe several hundred. Only mature age mallee trees have trunks the size of this one. And only mature mallee trees develop branches large enough to create hollows.

Over recent years this hollow hosted a wild bee colony, but that seems to have moved on. Over the last two to three years Galahs have investigated this hollow on many occasions but none has nested in it. One pair even diligently went about enlarging the hollow but with no nesting taking place.

I can’t be sure whether this is the same pair or a new pair trying it on for size. They certainly seem very interested and hang around there off and on for several hours every day. They even chase off other interested tenants, so they must be quite serious about it.

I’ll keep you posted on any developments on the home front.

Mallee Ringneck parrots find a slippery dip

3 Comments »6th August, 2009; Category: Bird Behaviour, Garden birds, Parrots and Lorikeets

My wife and I had a good laugh a few mornings ago. I was still in bed and about to rise. My wife had just opened the curtains. A heavy frost had settled overnight. I had second thoughts about rising, considering snuggling back into bed as a very viable option.

My attention was grabbed by our resident pair of Mallee Ringneck parrots as they flew over the driveway and landed in the tree next to where the car was parked. Because of the frost the car was heavily encrusted in ice. One of the parrots decided to investigate. Naturally he slid straight off the top of the car and down the sloping back window.

Hey – that was fun. He repeated the action several times. Even his partner joined in the fun. They both had a slide on the ice four or five times before flying off. I guess the ice against their backsides may have been a little too cold.

I wasn’t quick enough to get the camera out so I’ve included a photo of one of the ringnecks on a much warmer day.

Mallee Ringneck Parrot