BIRD SPECIES

Eastern Rosella

SCIENTIFIC NAME: Platycercus eximius

The Eastern Rosella is a blue and yellow rosella with a bright red head/chest and white cheeks.

It is 12 inches long. It has a red head and white cheeks. The beak is white and the irises are brown. Upper breast is red and the lower breast is yellow fading to pale green over the abdomen.

Feathers of the back and shoulders are black, and have yellowish or greenish margins giving rise to a scalloped appearance that varies slightly between the subspecies and the sexes.

Wings and lateral tail feathers are bluish while the tail is dark green. The legs are gray.

Females are similar to the males though duller in coloration and have an underwing stripe, which is not present in the adult males.

Juveniles are duller than females and have an underwing stripe.

Call in flight is sharp; while perched, a 3-syllable whistle on an ascending scale. Also, metallic and piping notes at rest. Shrill screech when startled. Soft chattering or babbling while feeding.

Diet mainly consists of fruit, seeds, flowers and insects.

Found in lightly wooded country, open forests, woodlands, gardens, bushlands and parks.

Native to southeast of the Australian continent and to Tasmania.

It has been introduced to New Zealand where feral populations are found in the North Island (notably in the northern half of the island and in the Hutt Valley) and in the hills around Dunedin in the South Island.

They can have 2 – 9 eggs. In the wild their breeding hollow is 1 meter deep and 30 meters high up a tree.

Also known as: Rosella, Red Rosella, Common Rosella, White-cheeked Rosella, Red-headed Rosella, Golden-mantled Rosella

SOURCES:
https://en.wikipedia.org
https://ebird.org
https://www.parrots.org