19 January 2006

Superb Parrots invade Belconnen

| Xanthomyza
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A beautiful species of parrot called the Superb Parrot has ventured into Belconnen in numbers this summer.

The species breeds in woodlands on the south-west slopes and comes as far south as the Wallaroo Rd area north of Hall. It’s a threatened species (vulnerable in NSW and ACT).

Every December and January, after the young have fledged, small groups (up to about 30) of Superb Parrots come into the Mt Rogers area (Flynn and Fraser in north Belconnen) to feed on grass seeds.

This year there are loads of the birds much further in town. Last week there were 100+ in Macquarie. This week there are many birds around the Belconnen markets and between the DIMIA building and the Belconnen mall. There are lots of young birds being fed by parents.

Males are bright green with yellow throats and foreheads, and a scarlet crescent under the yellow throat. Females and young birds are duller green with no yellow or red markings. The birds have long slender tails and are slightly bigger than the Crimson Rosellas we normally see around town.

Here is a link to some photos of Superb Parrots, on the Canberra Ornithologists Groups photo gallery website.

Keep your eye out for these spectacular birds. They migrate north at the end of January.

X

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the beast stays east1:28 pm 08 Dec 07

I live in west murrumbateman where we are privileged to witness great numbers of the endangered superb parrot on a daily basis. It’s core breeding areas are amongst the old trees that line dog trap road. a small but vocal group are still pushing for a western bypass of our town. Every independent study has come up with east, why do they continue to waste more taxpayer dollars on more studies that all say east?!! The beast stays east, let the west rest.

Thanks X. I spent a lot of time there, a few mornings and evenings, and I have a new toy, a long lens, that I was able to use. But you can get reasonably close at times, maybe 4m away, and the lens did the rest.

And yes the hanging bird was pretty young – on Flickr where a few of these are posted, I titled this one “Perching 101 – FAIL!” She landed on the leaves instead of a branch and promptly swivelled over, hanging on for dear life. I took a series as she hung there, trying to work out what to do since obviously not confident enough of flying to let go and recover in flight. I’d like to post a link so you can see the others, but not sure how to do this with Flickr yet.

Aardvark, they are awesome pics. The first one is a juvenile (tail not fully grown). How’d you take the second? how close?

X

I don’t know how this works, but if it does here’s a couple of photos I took of these birds at Macquarie…

http://static.flickr.com/42/86681670_d68c7f0cc2_o.jpg

http://static.flickr.com/43/86681668_eebd347c28_b.jpg

or here’s the small versions…

Ever said lol in a spoken conversation? It goes down a treat in this modern age.

Dammit!

You can say that again ;P

You can say that again ;P

I never realised there were so many birdwatchers on this site…fascinating!

I never realised with had so many birdwatchers on this site…fascinating!

Try getting a flock of assorted galas and Cockatoos having a screeching contest at 5:30.

there is a damn bird pecking at its reflection on my bedroom window at the moment. wouldn’t be so annoying if it weren’t at about 5.30 – 6am every morning.

I’ve seen them about before but never in numbers. The wife and I have picked up our evening stroll around Mount Rogers school again but don’t see them around the 6:30 to 7 time. I guess they are roosting or feeding the chicks at that time.

Thanks for the pic link, X – there’s some great shots in there!

From our balcony in Melba my partner and I have a nice view over treetops and rooftops, and so we get a great view of the local birdlife. It’s absolutely brilliant, we love it. We see a few eastern and crimson rosellas and king parrots, a lot of galahs and cockatoos, and sometimes the smaller green parrots which neither of us can pick the breed of. Maybe some of them are Superb Parrots.

Absent Diane5:12 pm 19 Jan 06

Allegedly the Japanese Raven is amongst the smartest birds if not the smartest animals on EARTH….
However Parrots make good eating for us in wintertime post coat growing..

The Superb Parrot manages to hang on in the woodlands north from Hall, particularly west of Murrumbateman. I don’t think they were impacted by the fires.

Certainly other things were impacted by the fires. Yellow-tailed Black-cockatoos were all over the suburbs after the fires cos their favourite pine forests burnt down.

Ravens think the golf balls are eggs. They cache food; someone found a whole stash of golf balls in a tree hollow, stashed there by a raven.

X

i think this is another example of bushfire induced migration.

plenty of currawongs have appeared in belco since the fires. which takes a toll on other natives. i wonder how the superb parrot has managed to thrive ?

my fave is a crow in belco that has a golfball he flys around with and hides in tanbark. its an actual golf ball and hes been seen with it several times over a few years.

like the Magnificant Frigate and the Great Frigate I’m guessing the Superb Parrot got to name themselves

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