One of my favourite parrots
I’ve discovered a new community – Saturday Critters – and am excited to be able to share some of my love of wildlife.
For my first entry I’m going to talk about Rosellas. I would put this under my Five Favourites banner, but there are six species of Rosella and I’ve only managed to photograph two with an extra variant. having discovered that there are six, I’m going to make a point of visiting all the corners of Australia at some point to get photos of the other four.
Rosellas are gorgeous bright-coloured parrots. There are six species – Crimson Rosella, Western Rosella, Eastern Rosella, Green Rosella, Pale-headed Rosella and Northern Rosella. They are all of the genus Platycercus. For photos and details about each species not mentioned here, Wikipedia is a great place to start. Males are the brightest coloured, but females also can be quite pretty. Because they are bright-coloured and those colours tend to change according the the area they are native to, there has been some confusion as to how many species there actually are. This leads me to my favourite of all.
Adelaide Rosella
I live in Adelaide, South Australia and this rosella is native to only really what is now the metropolitan area of Adelaide and a bit surrounding. I admit that I like it because it is different and uncommon, I’m a bit that way in general, but I have to say that blue and orange are proving to be a strong colour combination favourite of mine. It should be noted that these birds are also a pain in the neck, literally, to photograph, so I don’t really have any great shots. These were taken in the park across the road from my house – with a lot of shoulder and neck pain. They do not pose or sit still and choose the highest and most backlit trees to clamber around in 😀
Now I said there were six species and ‘Adelaide’ wasn’t among them. This is because it has been decided that the Adelaide Rosella and the nearby Yellow Rosella are colour variants of the Crimson Rosella (Platycercus elegans) .
Crimson Rosella
I had never seen one of these until I visited the eastern states of Australia – where they are everywhere in the mountains. These shots were taken in the Grampians in western Victoria.
This one is a juvenile, they start off green and turn red as they mature.
Oh, except for this one which was taken in Marengo near Apollo Bay on the Great Ocean Road, Victoria.
So you can imagine me seeing these for the first time (I think it was in Queensland on my honeymoon back in 2001) as they are beautiful. Eastern state people probably find them a bit everyday, but they are not seen here in Adelaide, yet. EDIT: Since posting two fellow Adelaidians inform me that they see these here either seasonally or regularly, so they are here. The Adelaide and Yellow Rosellas share the blue cheeks, that is how you can tell they are of the same species in this little parrot colourfest.
Eastern Rosella
The Crimson Rosella is not seen in Adelaide, yet, but that may not always be the case. EDIT: And it isn’t anymore, apparently.
I grew up with tomato sauce as a staple on our kitchen table (wow, what a change in topic, but bear with me 😀 ). So this label was an every day thing.
Image not mine – borrowed from The Sydney Morning Herald – ironically an article talking about the Rosella factory in Sydney closing down 🙁
But I never set eyes on the featured bird. Never even occurred to me that I might see it. It was a fantasy bird that lived on a sauce bottle. That is so not the case today. The Eastern Rosella has followed the human created wheat belt across the continent and now is naturalised here in South Australia (and a lot of other places, sorry, New Zealand). These photos were taken in Belair National Park in the Adelaide Hills, but they can be seen anywhere in the Adelaide region now.
This one is a little grotty because he was eating a discarded apple.
These birds always prompt me to grab my camera. I really want to get some good photos of them and these aren’t quite up there yet. I attempted a painting of the Adelaide Rosella using the first photo above, but I had problems with the materials I was working with and had to call it to a halt, but I do plan to paint them one day – if I can get a good enough photo 😀
Anyways, this is my contribution to Saturday Critters this week, I hope you enjoyed it. Don’t hesitate to comment below, I love to hear from you.
Art Always!
Best wishes,
Liz
Edit: I’ve been invited to share this over at Wild Bird Wednesday, so go have a gander at the gorgeous birds over there 😀
Great post – My Dad used to breed Rosella’s in bird avaries (and other Australian parrots) when I was growing up so love them too. The Crimson are my favourite.. Been noticing them in the backyard the last few weeks-I think they are seasonal in Adelaide around Spring/Summer??? -but generally anywhere there are Bottlebrush Trees flowering nearby – they seem to congregate around. Am thinking I should plant a Bottlebrush tree to attract more!
I think I have only seen one or two here, but both you and another Adelaidian say you see them regularly, so perhaps it is just me and they have already moved in. I’ll have to go edit the post 😀 and check the bottlebrushes in the streets more regularly.
Thank you so much for dropping by and commenting 😀 And we must get together again some time, my youngling will love it.
Best wishes,
Liz
Liz Powley recently posted…Five favourite kinds of weather
I always loved seeing these Parrots when i as visiting Australia. Gorgeous images. Have a marvellous weekend.
Thank you, Margaret 😀 And thanks for dropping by 😀
Best wishes,
Liz
Liz Powley recently posted…It’s all about stamps
Beautifully coloured birds.
Thankyou 😀 And thanks for dropping by.
Best wishes,
Liz
Liz Powley recently posted…It’s all about stamps
Hello Liz, your Rosella parrot photos are lovely. I would love to see all of these birds in person. You are lucky to see some from your home. They are so colorful and pretty. I am enjoy watching the birds and I am just an amateur with photography. So I really enjoy your photos and post. I appreciate your visit and comment on my post. Thank you for linking up and sharing your post. Happy Saturday, enjoy your weekend!
Oh, I’m just an amateur from the ‘take many, many photos in the hope one turns out good’ methodology 😀 Very much point and shoot…except my camera is currently broken 🙁 so I need to buy a new one and I should buy a DSLR so I have to learn something about how to use it ::grumbles::
Thank you so much for dropping by and for hosting the blog party. It is wonderful to meet some new fellow bloggers and some definitely passionate birders – I’m learning lots 😀
Best wishes,
Liz
Liz Powley recently posted…Five favourite kinds of weather
First of all, I am glad you have started joining in with Saturday’s Critters! I don’t have any artwork this week but will be back to Paint Party Friday soon. Secondly, loved the Rosella and your post is wonderful! So, they followed the wheat belt…resourceful little thing! 🙂 I love that you always had the tomato sauce brand with the pretty picture and never thought you’d see one. The Crimson Rosella is especially pretty with it’s stunning RED, but I think I love the juvenile one best with his rainbow of colors! Greetings from Oregon USA!
It is definitely survival of the fittest in the bird world down here. Oregon is beautiful from what I’ve seen and heard of it. You have pine forests and many trees and rain – a different world from our desert clime eucalypt scrub and red soil. Which makes it all so much more fascinating. I love exploring the differences and looking at the animals that have taken a spot in the ecosystem in one place and compare them to the animal that has taken a similar spot here. It is all so interesting 😀
And I’m a geek…well, an arty geek 😀
I joined Saturday Critters because I wanted to expand the topics on this blog to include all of me, not just the arty bits. Wildlife is a bit part of me and I have thousands of photos on my hard drive sitting around doing nothing, so this is the perfect opportunity 😀 Thank you so much for the welcome and it is fabulous to see a familiar face.
Thank you so much for dropping by and commenting 😀
Best wishes,
Liz
Liz Powley recently posted…Five favourite kinds of weather
Oh my what little beauties and your camera work is excellent. We sure don’t have those birds out this way. Thank you for sharing them
MB
I’m sure you have equally as interesting birds 😀 Thank you so much for your kind words and for dropping by 😀
Best wishes,
Liz
Liz Powley recently posted…Five favourite kinds of weather
Hello Liz. Your parrots aand rosellas seem so exotic to me. Here in the UK of course we have no native parrots. In recent years the Rose-ringed Parakeet has become estanlished in the wild through escapes from captivity and deliberate releases when people buy them as pets but tire of them. Their population now is the many thousands and they are considered a pest as they displace our native species fron nest holes in trees.
I really enjoyed your photos and narrative.
We have many, many invasive species in the Australian ecosystems. The rosellas appear to be one of the native species that has prospered by our presence – in some ways. They now have an abundance of food supplied by our food crops and orchards, but their nesting sites are much rarer due to deforestation for those same farmlands. Many of the parrots are the same, they have adapted to the new conditions to the point of humans not liking them much (I’m kinda in the background with a little flag waving and fist pumping egging them on as it is nice to see an Australian species thrive here instead of being wiped out as what usually happens). The cockatoos and corellas now eat and literally destroy exotic pine trees and people get annoyed, but hey, we take away their natural habitat, what do we expect? We won’t mention how loud they are either 😀
We have starlings, blackbirds, common pigeons, and house sparrows for exotics here (off the top of my head). We see starlings out in the country in the wheat fields and around the silos. Pigeons are anywhere humans are, blackbirds trash my garden by digging it up to search for food, but house sparrows used to be more common. I’m guessing they still are out in the country, but I have to say that the metropolitan bird population has gone through some considerable changes in the last twenty years or so, including the addition of more parrots.
And I’m raving a little, sorry. I’m not really a birder, I just love the environment in general and birds are a part of that. Though I have to say that I’ve been encouraged today to go out and take more pictures of birds 😀
Thank you so much for dropping by and leaving such a kind comment 😀
Best wishes,
Liz
Liz Powley recently posted…Five favourite kinds of weather
Oh they’re so beautiful! Thank you for sharing your wonderful photos and information. I love birds!
Thank you so much, Lisa. I’m so glad you liked them 😀 Thanks for dropping by.
Best wishes,
Liz
Liz Powley recently posted…Corny Point and Cap Clairout
Wonderful parrots. I have lived in Australia for almost 25 years, and I’m still amazed by the colour of these birds! Feel free to link any bird posts to Wild Bird Wednesday – which runs on my photo-blog on (!) Wednesdays!
Cheers – Stewart M – Melbourne
I saw your site and your wonderful kookaburra photos. I admit to being amateur in both birds and photography so was a little daunted in adding this post, but since you have so kindly invited me… 😀
We are so seriously spoilt for birds on this continent. Such a range of colourful, smart and vibrant characters – have you seen anything about Tim Low’s work about the origin of the world’s song birds? – http://www.abc.net.au/catalyst/stories/4194557.htm – Catalyst video. Well worth a gander.
Thank you so much for dropping by and for the invite.
Best wishes,
Liz
Liz Powley recently posted…Corny Point and Cap Clairout