Eastern Rosellas: Cute as a Crayon!

I'd love to say I hunted down and photographed this bird after grueling hours of nature walks and trying to get just the right shot. The fact is, while I had begun to despair of finding them since my first sighting, one of the birds was kind enough to fly right in front of me and land at a nice height a short distance away. This was despite the fact I had startled her from her perch to begin with. So let's give a round of appreciative golf claps for the Eastern Rosella!

Oh wonderful! That was much better than that raucous din you generated for the Rainbow Lorikeet. I found these birds to be much quieter, so I'd hate for her to--

*sigh*

I suppose she'll come back eventually. In the mean time, here's some facts about the Eastern Rosella:
____________________________________________________________
Eastern Rosella (Platycercus eximius)

Size: 29-33 cm (11.4-13 in)
Eats: seeds, fruits, buds, flowers, nectar, bugs
Habitat: open woodlands with grassy ground cover, farmland, crops, gardens, etc...
Behaviors: grazes food on the ground, prefers to live in small flocks
Breeding: August-December, nests in hollows. Incubated by female while male does the food gathering. Leave nest around 5 weeks old. Eastern Rosellas mate for life.
______________________________________________________


Oh look! Our little friend is back just in time for us to talk about her pomp plumage!

Hello, Gorgeous

As you can see, the Eastern Rosella has a red head and breast which changes to a yellow belly and you can juuuust see how it becomes a light green towards their legs, with some red under the tail. Their shoulders and wings are bright blue. Their back feathers are multicoloured, with the black and yellow-green making the parakeet-like appearance. This scalloped pattern helps them blend into their surroundings like camouflage and it can actually be quite difficult to catch site of them in a tree if they do not move. Their white cheeks give them the "innocent" appearance that put you in mind of a preschool craft kit versus the aforementioned Pride Parade crayon can the Rainbow Lorikeet utilizes. You just want to scratch those little white cheeks until they're all fluffed!

In differentiating these Rosellas from the Rainbow Lorikeets, I found their red head was the most obvious distinguishing mark. Their tails are also broad and blue, where Rainbow Lorikeets have longer green tails. The Eastern Rosellas also have a more "undulating" flight pattern (isn't that just the most marvelous word?), where Lorikeets usually squeal, dart, and cavort about like they own the place or something.

In other words, despite both being very colourful birds, the Rainbow Lorikeet is the victorious footballer and the Rosella is just trying to get some reading done, thanks... Or as another fun analogy--everyone loves these, right?--Rainbow Lorikeets are the outlandish frontmen and Eastern Rosellas are more then unassuming but talented bass players.

"I suppose if he LIKES making that much noise..."

There is also a Western Rosella that appears similar, but their cheek patch is yellow and their entire head, breast and belly is a duller red-orange colouration. The Western Rosella also shows more "sexual dimorphism" (the genders look different), with the female only having a bit of mottled red-green on her throat, underside and crown. This species lives in the southwest corner of Australia.

Further Learning!
Birds in Backyards Information Page

Bird Life Australia Information Page


Next Episode: The Spy Who Scalped Me!

The Gum Tree!

Call me a tree-hugging hippie if you must, but I would like to take an evening (because we're a classy "evening" kind of show here, right folks?) to talk about one of my favorite trees, the Eucalyptus.

Majesty.

Now I know what your thinking. You don't want to hear about no stinkin' tree. I led you on with two whole posts of nothing but flashy little parrots, and now I want to talk about a tree?!

Hang on, now, listen. This isn't any old tree. This tree is California Redwood kinds of awesome.

Maybe not so...massively awesome.

My love affair with the eucalyptus actually began as early as grade school, around the time moving to Australia was something you did after a Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day.

I hope your childhood had this

The playground had a row of eucalyptus trees along the back fence, and I loved to pick up the leaves, scrunch them up, and inhale their fragrance. In hindsight, I'm sure I subconsciously knew they were soothing to my chronic allergies, but at the time, I just liked their smell. It was also fun to pick the peeling bark off.

Yah...I swear, I was not as weird and creepy of a child as that makes me sound. I PROMISE.

Anyway, now, I'm surrounded by Eucalyptus. The Eucalyptus Tree is an Australian icon. You can't know Australia without knowing the Eucalyptus. If you think you've gotten away with it, you are wrong.  There are 700-800 species of eucalyptus and they make up almost all of the trees native to Australia. They are present in almost every environment on the continent, except the very alpine tips of mountains and the most arid portions of the interior desert (where they may be found near bodies of water anyway). They're so hardy that they survive well as invasive species of tree in other countries. Some people try to eradicate them because they hog water resources, but they've become a boon to struggling communities in areas like arid Africa, where they've become a economic resource for their timber and their oil.

That's right, these trees are so awesome they help starving children in Africa. Don't you feel guilty now?

The Eucalyptus tree has inspired artists to poetry and painting. It's grace in the wind, it's solitary watch over an empty field. It's grandeur over lesser plants and it's sheltering limbs! Some trees are more humble and only grow to shrubby-heights. Forest and woodland eucalyptus trees tower above the rest! The Australian Mountain Ash is the tallest flowering plant in the world, topped only by a few species of conifer!

"El Grande"

In the fog and the rain, the volatile oils responsible for the trademark aroma of the tree leaves are released. The smell of eucalyptus fills the air, mixing with other scents to create something truly Australian.  As light strikes through the mist, the oil droplets refract away the blue light. This sight was so magnificent that they named the Blue Mountains after this phenomenon.

BOOM. That was your brain. Exploding in wonder.

Eucalyptus oil is what this tree is most famous for in the rest of the world. It is used for its fragrance alone and as a medicinal for colds, allergies, and similar respiratory conditions.  It can be used as an antiseptic and a bug-repellent. I learned today that it is also used as an industrial solvent, which was a little unsettling consider how much of it I breathed on my walk...

It was also a little unsettling to learn that this aura of oil is very flammable. Apparently, eucalyptus trees are a fire hazard. Their oil burns, their bark not only flakes off and acts as wildfire-tinder, but it's a slow burning that encourages persistence of the fire. Branches also have a tendency to just drop, so maybe I should have spent less time under them as a child...

Luckily for the trees, they're also fairly flame resistant. Some trees have resilient bark with resilient names like "ironbark". If their bark does not protect them, they keep little growth buds tucked away so they can blossom forth with new regrowth! The species that can't do this just have hardy "reserve seeds", so they have to start over again. Regardless, a eucalyptus forest is pretty much immortal as long as humans don't interfere.

kinky little tassles

Speaking of blossoms, the Eucalyptus flower is fascinating.

Those fluffy little tassles aren't actually petals! They're a collection of stamens, which produce the tree's pollen. Which is kinda kinky when you think about it. Eucalyptus just hangs it all out there. No big deal, just pollinating here.

If you grew up around eucalyptus trees like I did, you'll so recognize the leftover woody portion of their seed fruit. Each little cup would have held a little fruit (the famous "gum-nut") that would have dropped or been eaten.

Gum-nut pods

This is going to sound really weird, but my absolutely favorite part of eucalyptus trees are their bark.

It's worse than their bite! *bah duhn tsssh* ....  Yah not funny moving on.

Ironbark

Bark Bark

Eucalyptus trees have a TON of different bark types. Each of these trees is a eucalyptus, but they all have a different bark!

Bark Bark Bark Bark! And this is mine, btw. Watermark fail.

You'll notice that some of the trees don't have bark further up their trunk. This is because a number of species have deciduous bark. Holy CRAP that is awesome!  The outer layer will die and peel off in flakes or in long strips. Or sometimes it will sit there as a dead outer coating until it wears away or is removed by bugs and other animals (like children). The best part is that trees that leave the lower half of their trunk are sometimes called "blackbutts".

LOL Butt Joke!

Another name for Eucalyptus trees is "Gum Tree". This is a reference to the sticky sap that collects between grooves in the bark.

Many of you will recognize the term "Gum tree" from the song "Kookaburra sits in the old gum tree".  He only thinks he's a king; not many people actually like them all that much because of their noise and tendency to steal bacon.

Which he did.

Other birds will make their homes in Eucalyptus trees, either building a nest on them, or making nests out of hollows and holes in the trunks and branches. Here's a rainbow ninja near a possible nest!

That or a toilet. Hah potty humor. This that "class" I mentioned.

Eucalyptus trees are also known as homes for Koalas. Koalas are notorious for preference certain species of eucalyptus (they'll sniff the leaves to pick their favorites), but they're not actually the pickiest of marsupials. Regardless, the deforestation of eucalyptus forests has a profound impact on the lives of all animals who live there.  So be a hippie, and save a tree! FOR THE KOALAS!

The Rare Rhyming Mustachioed Koala

I only scratched the bark on these elegant eucalypti. If you like to learn more, here are some links! Included... furniture facts, invasive species summary and "How Australian Trees Kill You"!!

Links:
Wikipedia Entry
Australian Gov't Article
PlantNet Article

Sneak Preview!!

Painted Lorikeets Part B: Painted Pests

Welcome back, everyone!  Last post, I introduced you to the Rainbow Lorikeet. If for some absurd reason you have forgotten what this charmer looks like, here's a reminder in "natural lighting".

DoI look mysterious?

Since my previous late-night post was a little ADD, here's the quick and dirty facts about the Rainbow Lorikeet:
__________________________________________________________

Trichoglossus="hairy tongue"

Name: Rainbow Lorikeet (Trichoglossus haematodas)
Size: 25-30 cm (9.8-11.8 in)
Diet: fruit, nectar, blossoms, seeds, berries, orchard fruit
Habitat: all kinds of forests and woodland, farmland, mangroves

Breeding: large deep nests shaped out of hollows in trunks or major limbs. Lay 1-3 white soft-glossy eggs. Chicks are covered in yellow down until fledging when 7-8 wks old.

Distinguishing features: Their blue head is unique and helps differentiate them from other brightly coloured parrots. In flight, they have a vibrant yellow band bordered by red.
_______________________________________________________________________________

For dramatic purposes, I left out a crucial piece of "Habitat": the natural range of the Rainbow Lorikeet.  You see, here in Sydney, we only dislike Rainbow Lorikeets if they're loud, some inconvinence like bird poop or our previously mentioned raining of flowers into pools, or if you have fruit trees.  But they don't really cause many real problems.

However, Rainbow Lorikeets are supposed to be here. Their natural range is north and east Australia, starting in the northern tip of Western Australia and around down the coast about until Melbourne, in Victoria.  As you can see, that is a fairly large range, but it's still not "All of Australia" by any means.

You'll also note the small red zone I note along the Western Coast. Now, You're probably thinking "boy she was clumsy with her paintbrush. Where are these Mad Paint Skillz, like we see in that kick ass picture of the creepy lorikeet tongue?!" Don't worry, admirers, there's plenty to feast your eyes upon. And that dot is entirely intentional.

That little dot is Perth, Australia, where some charming humans released aviary Lorikeets into the "wild".

Any of you versed in animal ecology are already cringing. For the rest of my readers, this is bad. Introducing a non-native animal to a region is going to go one of two ways. The best way is for that introduction to fail. The animals die without breeding (either premature deaths or do not successfully breed) and there's no lasting impact. The other way--all too common--is flourishing success. And what have we learned so far about Lorikeets??

FLOURISH!!

So how does this success impact the invaded region? After all, aren't more animals a good thing?

NO. Ecosystems are fairly delicate constructs and species balances can be rapidly moved from "precarious" to "disaster".  There are limited resources to be shared, and invading species are usually not polite about it.  Additionally, the system of limits and controls is often not equipped to deal with a new factor. If a "prey" species is introduced without an analogue for its predator, it will run rampant.  Introduced predator species can decimate the unsuspecting prey species in its new home. There are islands of Hawaii where snakes have destroyed the native bird population. Why? The birds just didn't have an adaption for these new snakes.  It's like taking a small rural town and filling it with angry ninjas. NINJAS EVERYWHERE. There's just no way townsfolk are going to continue to thrive.

This...this is just Prize Wining County Jam. Right?

So how have Rainbow Lorikeets impacted western Australia? Well, luckily, the situation hasn't quite reached apocalyptic ninja levels.  Other species are still O.K. and habitats are being maintained. But they have successfully established themselves. They're smart, they have adaptable eating preferences, and fairly aggressive. If they aren't controlled, they are going to more profoundly affect the populations of the birds they compete with (eg. Western Ringneck parrots and Carnaby's Black cockatoo). Tasmania and New Zealand are also threatened with invading Rainbow Lorikeet populations (also released). Threatened native species there include the Green Rosella and protected Musk Parrot.

Disease spread is also a particular concern.Rainbow lorikeets are healthy carriers of Psittacine Beak and Feather disease. Even if they find a feeding/living balance in the ecosystem, the wrong bird could wipe out entire populations of a susceptible species. And, of course, any introduced bird (even of a native species) could be carrying a disease that could do serious damage to a naive population.

And now some of you are thinking "yah, but these aren't MY birds. And I like these cheeky rainbow buggers. Why should I care?"  An excellent question and one with a most excellent answer.

Remember what I said earlier about people with fruit trees?  If you weren't, pay attention. If you were, you get a cookie. You'll just have to get it yourself, sorry.  Anyway, by "fruit trees" I meant "fruit trees and grape varietals".  Lorikeets love fruit and nectar. These are kind of crucial fruit and wine industries, as you can imagine. So if you love Shiraz (one of Australia's biggest and most popular wine varietals), you probably won't love Rainbow Lorikeets very much any more.  It's okay, they forgive you.

The good news is that Australia is totally on top of invasive species issues. Their unique flora and fauna are considered part of the nation's image. As such, Customs in the airport is a massive pain in the pitard, but governments are more aware. They've had a lot of practice (rabbits, dear, foxes...). Fairly effective control and eradication programs are in place in the affected states and New Zealand. It's also been made illegal to release pet Rainbow Lorikeets into the wild.  From what I can see reading about this issue, they've managed to maintain a modicum of control of the situation. I expect it will only improve or stabilize with time.

That or we'll be seeing a lot more of the cheeky bastards! Hopefully not in those poor defenseless towns...

DUN DUHN DUHHHNNNNN

Introductions and our First Guest

Hello, everyone, and Welcome to this new venture of mine.  Prepare to be amazed by all the beautiful and vibrant life I am discovering here in Australia! Hold on to your brainhats, because not only will your eyes be bulging from your face in awe, but I will blow your minds with facts and random trivia about all these delightful specimens!
You will all regret my present unemployment, until you realize how much you desperately wanted to know the airspeed velocity of a coconut-laden Australian spar---wait. Sorry, I probably should warn you now. I'm a dork. I like to think it makes me lovable. If you're the sort of person who's accepting of that sort of thing. If not well...It's okay, because sometimes I irritate me too!

Also, there's no such thing as an Australian sparrow. That was a blatant abuse of an over-used reference to Monty Python and the Holy Grail. I should probably apologize for that too but I'm not sorry.

This is not real.

ANYWAY. Enough of these ADD introductory shenanigans! You came here for something to feast your starving eyes with! Something to satiate your desperate need to cast away your drab existence for the exotic and exemplary! Since we're on the topic of birds, let's start with a colourful local resident. For you Australians, our guest needs no introduction. For the rest of you...

*eh eh ehm* <ANNOUNCER VOICE>
And now, entering the arena! Weighing in at a measly 2.6-5.5 oz! Measuring only 25-30cm in length! They're loud! They're proud! They're so rainbow they look like a kindergartner with a Pride Parade Crayon Set...

Theyyyyy're RAINBOW LORIKEETS!!!  *raucous screams and applause*

Awwwww yeah!

Okay, settle down, settle DOWN. You'll scare them away!! Goodness, didn't anyone ever teach you basic nature etiquette? Were you raised in a BARN?! Okay, much better, thank you. Moving forward.Rainbow lorikeets are one of my favorite birds here in Sydney. Why? Time for some introduction-post-worthy BACK STORY:

I grew up in Tempe, Arizona, which is part of the greater Phoenix Metropolitan Area.  For those of you unfamiliar with Southwestern U.S. Geography, this means I grew up in a city in the Sonoran Desert. Also, within easy day trip distance of a plethora of ecosystems such as Coniferous mountain forests, juniper foothills, brushy nasty plateau-land near the great Grand Canyon, and still others. It's beautiful and never boring.

Magnificent

 For the last 7 years, I lived in Kansas until I graduated Veterinary School. Yes, I am already aware of the hilarious coincidence that I, like another dog-loving pigtail-toting Kansan, have moved from Kansas to "Oz".

Make this joke again, and I'll get you! And your little dog too!

I'm also not from the "flatlands" that many Americans complain about and everyone seems to think encompasses the whole of the midwest. I lived in the Flint Hills Grassland, in the Konza Prairie. This is rolling (but flat-topped) hill country, folks. From the top of a hill, I could coast my old F-250 almost an entire mile in neutral.  It's also absolutely breathtaking. At the height of the growing season, it's truly Amber Waves.
 

My photography does not do this justice.

But you know what my flora and fauna have always been lacking?

EXUBERANCE

You see, Desert Animals are designed to blend in with the desert (which is mostly brown/light-green). Grassland birds often have flashes of color, or subtle colouration, but most of the truly resplendent avians are shy, uncommon or outright endangered. The only common bright bird was the Cardinal, and even they were fairly boring once you got used to them. They're just Red.

And Rainbow Lorikeets? Well...

I'm SUPER FABULOUS

Best of all, they are everywhere. Even if I were to get bored of ours, there's a handful subspecies that all look just a little different. For example, the Swainson's Lorikeet has a blue belly and no chest bars (pictured just above), and the Rosenburg's Lorikeet is darker with very strong black barring on the chest, as well as a wider yellow patch on the neck.

Rainbow Lorikeets are enthralling to watch. They are parrots, after all. They're clever, acrobatic, and they play with each other (and their food!). Some people have them as pets and--as intelligent fellows--they can learn tricks and speech, as well as how to effectively train their owners to behave according to their parroty guidelines. In the wild, they'll group together, but they're less "flocking birds" like geese and more "neighborly" like us (it's only polite!).  You can ahead and picture them with little twig-picket fences, a missus and 1.5 chicklets.  They're monogamous like humans, and mate for life. Probably lack the stereotypical Labrador/Golden Retriver, though.

Lorikeets in our Foxglove tree

I am incredibly lucky, in that we have a beautiful Foxglove tree in our backyard. My fiance (who will hereafter be referred to as The Love) dislikes the tree, as it rains flowers in the pool. I love the tree. It's elegant, incredibly fragrant (reminiscent of Jasmine) and the lorikeets LOVE IT. You see, Rainbow lorikeets eat fruits, pollen and nectar. They have special tongues designed to help them draw the nectar from the flowers. So this tree is pretty much the All You Can Drink Buffet, but it's also a party where the birds have flowerhats, chatter away and hang upside down to eat (probably just because they can). Cheeky bastards!

I have yet to tire of watching them, and they are pure delight. I'll always have a special place in my heart for my Cactus Wrens and Medowlarks...but now I live somewhere that has more freakin' parrots than sparrows.

And that is why I started this blog.

Next Episode: "Rainbow Lorikeet: Part B" or "Technicolor Trickster or Painted Pest?!"

Links:
Wikipedia Entry
"Birds in Backyards" Link
Pet Information from Burke's Backyard