If you live in Victoria, these delightful parrots will be well known to you. They can also be found along the NSW coast, just over the the border into Qld and in the SE corner of SA. While they form permanent pairs, they still perform courtship rituals, which include the male feeding the female (as he'll do when she's incubating their eggs). Males and females are hard to tell apart - the female's beak is slightly narrower and she has a white underwing bar (only visible in flight). Juveniles are greener and can look quite blotchy when maturing into adult feathers. Juvenile males reach maturity between 2-3 years of age. Until they are ready to breed, they form groups of up to 30 birds. I have experienced that here, with around ten youngsters, and their behaviour was reminiscent of a group of teenagers with not much to do except show off and misbehave. In one garden they systematically snipped off entire young plants near ground level and left them lying there. The Crimson Rosellas here are a little cautious, but will happily munch away on gum nuts in a tree above where I'm working. What they really love is a bath and they take their time - getting thoroughly soaked and rolling on their sides. (I suspect that drowning fleas might be a part of the pleasure). There's something I find very engaging about the Crimson Rosella. I see a lot of intelligence in their eyes - humour, I like to think. As they can live for up to 27 years, I don't think this is too fanciful. Here's a good resource with some facts and figures on this delightful bird. For a slide show of more Crimson Rosella birdbath pics, click
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Archives
December 2018
January - Superb Fairy-Wren
Feb - Eastern Yellow Robin March - NH Honeyeater April - Crimson Rosella May - Grey Currawong June - Grey Shrike-thrush July - Red-browed Finch Aug - White-browed Babbler Sept - Australian Ringneck Oct - Striated Thornbill Nov-Y-t Black Cockatoo Dec - Australian Magpie |