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Showing posts with the label platycercus elegans

Australian Birds: Crimson Rosella (Platycercus elegans)

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So, I went for a bit of a walk, trying to get some different shots of the crimson rosellas. At first they proved to be very elusive, and they stayed that way for the morning. This was the only shot I had of a pair in a tree. For bright red and blue (and green) birds, they can be quite difficult to see, when they are feeding in long grass.  Harder still when they bend down to feed. There are two birds in each of the shots below.  And there they are again. If even red and blue birds can hide in the long grass, what chance do we have against velociraptors? You can find more about crimson lorikeets from the following sites: http://www.birdsinbackyards.net/species/Platycercus-elegans ; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crimson_rosella ; http://birds.about.com/od/mediumbirds/p/Crimson-Rosellas-As-Pets.htm ; http://parkweb.vic.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0012/322203/rosella4.pdf ; http://australianmuseum.net.au/Crimson-Rosella ...

Australian Birds: Adult Crimson Rosella (Platycercus elegans)

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You've seen the juvenile. Now, take a look at these, and you'll understand why I had so much trouble trying to work out if it was the same bird or not. This is the adult. Apparently, it takes around two years for the juveniles to lose their greenish tinge and wear this red-and-blue coat. The ones around my house are shy and pretty uncooperative. If the tree hadn't had so much fruit on it, I doubt he would have stuck around, but he took a good look at the camera, and decided the search for food was more important. Some of those berries can be downright hard to reach, but well worth the effort.