Birds, Birds and more Birds

Last weekend one of the places we visited had extensive aviaries. They have a love for native parrots and have quite a collection a beautiful birds.

Sorry for the not so great photos of some of the birds I saw but I was mostly taking them through the holes in wire.

There were Australian Ring Neck parrots or Port Lincoln Parrots ( I think) which were very pretty.

There were also Red Winged parrots which I have seen before at the Wildlife Dome.

There were the very familiar Rainbow Lorikeets who were on the loose but I caught them coming back for a feed.

I thought the Cloncurry Parrots were very pretty. They are another type of Ringneck parrot.

There were Major Mitchell Cockatoos a bird I have never seen in the wild.

Another bird I can't remember seeing in the wild are the Eastern Rosella. Mr Sparky also thought they were a gorgeous bird and so different in colour to the Crimson Rosella found on the Tablelands. This fellow is the iconic bird on Rosella brand condiments. 

There were some Pale Headed Rosellas as well, another I don't think I have seen.

The Bluebonnet parrots were interesting looking fellows with their fluffy hair style. This one just wanted to be the only one in the shot, following my camera around.

Then there was the aviary of finches, so many of the cute little things moving from place to place.

Hiding out in among the finches were also some Western Rosellas that are very similar in looks to the Eastern Rosella. Yet another bird that was new.

Now I can tell you I am no bird expert and at the time I didn't have a clue as to what most of these birds were other than assumptions because 'that one looks to that one' or because they were well known or I had seen them before. Sooo hopefully my quick research pulled the correct birds' names. Anyway I enjoyed seeing them and my dreams of having a budgie (not allowed pets here) have expanded to some other pretty parrots as well.

Snowy White Breasts and Sulphur Crests

Yep it is more Sulphur Crested Cockatoos or White Cockatoos. 

Remember that stint at the local Showgrounds while visiting the Family Farm where I found some pretty pink beauties, Galahs, in the trees. Well they might have been fairly quiet but the fellows below I found purely because of their noise. 

I found the cockatoos in some big old trees on the edge of the show grounds and amazingly they didn't fly away on me no matter how close I got.

I also found these colourful, smaller parrots, hiding away up in the leaves near the cockatoos. I don't recall ever seeing them before, maybe once in our backyard when I was a teen. After a quick google with the descriptors Australian parrot green yellow chest I think I have found out that they are a Red Rumped Parakeet. According to Birds in Backyards Red-rumped Parrots are medium-sized, slender parrots. The adult male is bright green, with a blue-green head, a red rump, and yellow shoulders and belly. The female is a duller, olive-green, with a green rump and faint yellow or light green scales on the belly. Young birds of both sexes are duller in colour.

I guess that means that the first bird pictured is a female and the second is a male. They apparently mate for life and the male feeds the nesting female (sounds like that fits in nicely with all the romantic goings on at this time of year). They will also feed with other species of bird like the Galah, which was also in the area.

Aren't they pretty?

Wild Bird Wednesday