“And when thou art spoiled, what wilt thou do? Though thou clothest thyself with crimson, though thou deckest thee with ornaments of gold, though thou rentest thy face with painting, in vain shalt thou make thyself fair; thy lovers will despise thee, they will seek thy life.” (Jeremiah 4:30)
Crimson Rosella (Platycercus elegans) ©WikiC
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Ian’s Bird of the Week – Crimson Rosella ~ by Ian Montgomery
Newsletter – 11/20/15
Some birds are very obvious choices for bird of the week because they are beautiful and popular. Ironically, I can overlook them for exactly that reason as I assume they’ve featured previously. Here is one such, the Crimson Rosella, an iconic and popular bird of the forests of eastern and southeastern Australia.
Normally rather shy in its natural habitat and can become quite tame in parks and gardens. It’s popularity is reflected in the fact that it has been introduced to New Zealand and Norfolk Island and (unsuccessfully) to Lord Howe Island. It nests in tree hollows and is regarded by conservationists as a pest on Norfolk Island as it competes with the smaller, endangered Norfolk Parakeet for nest sites.
It feeds mainly on the seeds and fruit of trees and will forage on the ground for the grass seed, like the bird in the third photo. It’s a very vocal species and its ringing calls are a characteristic sound of forests in eastern Australia. Out of the breeding season, it is found in small flocks but it is territorial when breeding and the pair bond is though to persist for several years or longer.
Juvenile birds of the eastern nominate race are mainly olive green with blue cheeks and patches of red on the head, breast and undertail-coverts. The nominate race extends from Cooroy in Southeastern Queensland to about Kingston in eastern South Australia.
Farther north, an isolated population of the race nigrescens (‘blackish’) occurs from Eungella near Mackay north to the Atherton Tableland. This is smaller and darker than the nominate race, fifth photo, and is mainly a bird of highland rainforest.
Juveniles of this northern race are much more like the adults than their southern relatives and have brownish-black feathers on the back instead of green (sixth photo).
Crimson Rosella (Platycercus elegans) by Ian
In southeastern Australia the populations of blue-cheeked Rosellas look very different and were for a long time treated as two different species, the Yellow Rosella, seventh photo, of the river systems of southern New South Wales and northern Victoria, and the orange-plumaged Adelaide Rosella of South Australia from the Flinders Ranges in the north to the Fleurieu Peninsula south of Adelaide (no photo). Yellow and Adelaide Rosellas interbreed where their ranges meet along the Murray River in South Australia. The two are now treated as races of the Crimson Rosella, flaveolus and adelaidae respectively.
Yellow Rosella (Platycercus elegans flaveolus) by Ian 4
The Yellow Rosella looks very like the other blue-cheeked Rosella, the Green Rosella of Tasmania. It is, however, retained as a separate species. I included this photo of the Yellow Rosella when the Green Rosella was bird of the week in March 2013.
Christmas is looming ever closer, so this wouldn’t be complete without the obligatory commercial. What do you give to the digitally-competent birder or nature-lover who has everything? An electronic book of course and both Apple and Kobo have facilities in their ebook stores for giving gifts. I’ve included a Giving Gifts section on the Publications page with help on how these stores let you give gifts. Google has facilities only for giving the equivalent of a gift token and not specific items. These book images are linked to the corresponding web pages:
Greetings
Ian
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Ian Montgomery, Birdway Pty Ltd,
454 Forestry Road, Bluewater, Qld 4818
Tel 0411 602 737 ian@birdway.com.au
Bird Photos http://www.birdway.com.au/
Recorder Society iTunes; Google Play Kobo Books
Lee’s Addition:
For the LORD God is a sun and shield; The LORD will give grace and glory; No good thing will He withhold From those who walk uprightly. (Psalms 84:11 NKJV)
Thanks again, Ian, for sharing some more avian wonders. I especially like the second photos. That little guy looks like he is walking with an attitude. :)
Cause me to hear Your lovingkindness in the morning, For in You do I trust; Cause me to know the way in which I should walk, For I lift up my soul to You. (Psalms 143:8 NKJV)
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Ian’s Psittacidae – Parrots Family
Pale-headed Rosella ~ 8-24-14
Psittaculidae – Old World Parrots (Here)
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Green Rosella (Platycercus caledonicus) by Ian 1
Ian’s Bird of the Week – Green Rosella ~ by Ian Montgomery
Newsletter ~ 2/26/13
The two recent Tasmanian birds of the week seem to have been popular so here is another one, the Green Rosella. I spent an enjoyable week in a rented campervan in Tasmanian in December 2011 on the way back from the Sub-antarctic trip chasing Tasmanian specialties. After that trip, the Tasmanian species got somewhat eclipsed by the penguins, albatrosses and other seabirds as choices for bird of the week, so I’m making amends now.
Green Rosella (Platycercus caledonicus) by Ian 2
At up to 37cm/14.6in in length, it’s the largest of the Rosellas, being marginally larger on average than its close relative the Crimson Rosella which it replaces in Tasmania and some islands in Bass Strait. Males are generally larger than females and there are subtle between the sexes with males having relatively larger upper mandibles and broader heads (first photo) and females having more orange on the cheeks (second photo) though most of the field guides don’t distinguish between the sexes.
Green Rosella (Platycercus caledonicus) by Ian 3
Juveniles, third photo, are more distinctive with duller more olive plumage and, in flight, pale wing stripes. This bird was in the company of the adult in the second photo, and the one in the first photo was in the same area, so I assumed that they comprised a family.
Green Rosellas are quite common throughout Tasmania, showing a preference for highland forest, though these ones were near the coast on the Tinderbox Peninsula south of Hobart, a good place to search for all the Tasmanian endemics.
“Yellow” Crimson Rosella (Platycercus elegans flaveolus) by Ian 4
The specific name caledonicus was used by the German naturalist Johann Gmelin in 1788, who mistakenly believed that the type specimen had been collected in New Caledonia. Confusion is the name of the game in Rosella terminology, and species boundaries have changed over the years. The Crimson Rosella has two races which differ greatly in plumage and both the ‘Yellow Rosella’ of Southwest NSW and the ‘Adelaide Rosella’ of South Australia have been regarded as separate species in the past. The Yellow Rosella (fourth photo) looks quite like the Green Rosella – and not at all like a Crimson Rosella – but the Green, given its geographical isolation, has been given the benefit of the doubt and retained as a separate species. This is just as well, politically anyway, as it’s the avian symbol of Tasmania and deserves a certain status.
Best wishes
Ian
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Ian Montgomery, Birdway Pty Ltd,
454 Forestry Road, Bluewater, Qld 4818
Tel 0411 602 737 ian@birdway.com.au
Check the latest website updates:
http://www.birdway.com.au/#updates
Lee’s Addition:
I will teach you regarding the hand and handiwork of God; that which is with the Almighty … (Job 27:11a AMP)
The Green Rosella is sometimes referred to as the Tasmanian Rosella, probably as Ian mentioned because it is the Avian Symbol of Tasmanian. The Green and “Yellow” Crimson Rosella are part of the Psittacidae – Parrots Family. What gorgeous birds belong to this family and they show the Handiwork of the Lord at some of it’s finest.
Their diet is composed of seeds, fruit, berries and flowers, as well as insects and insect larvae. The Green Rosella is predominantly herbivorous, consuming seeds, berries, nuts and fruit, as well as flowers, but may also eat insect larvae and insects such as psyllids. They have also partaken of the berries of the common hawthorn, as well as Coprosma and Cyathodes, and even leaf buds of the Common Osier. The seeds of the Silver Wattle (Acacia dealbata) are also eaten.
The breeding season is October to January, with one brood. The nesting site is usually a hollow over 1 m (3 ft) deep in a tree trunk anywhere up to 30 m (100 ft) above the ground. A clutch of four or five white and slightly shiny eggs, measuring 30 x 24 mm, is laid. The nestlings leave the nest around five weeks after hatching and remain with their parents for another month.
See also:
(Wikipedia with editing)
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Lee's Birdwatching Adventures Plus 