The Cape Parrots Of King William’s Town, South Africa

Posted on December 18, 2014 by Tara

There is a lot of confusion about the classification of Cape Parrots. In the past, there were 3 subspecies: Poicephalus robustus robusts (Brown-headed Cape Parrots), Poicephalus robustus suahelicus and Poicephalus robustus fuscicollis (Grey-headed Cape Parrots). Cape Parrots have now been reclassified so the Brown-headed Cape Parrots are in their own species now – Poicephalus robustus and the two Grey-headed Cape Parrots are now in their own species divided into Poicephalus fusicollis suahelicus (the Grey-headed Cape Parrots in the Limpopo region) and Poicephalus fusicollis fusicollus (Grey headed/Brown-necked parrots found in West Africa. If all this is confusing, there is a good graph on Thor’s Cape Parrot page.

In this post, I will be blogging about my experience with Poicephalus robustus, the Brown-headed Cape Parrots. The distribution map below is extracted from Birdlife and I have indicated in blue the approximate range of these birds. They breed in the Hogsback area and fly down to King William’s Town most days to forage as fruit trees are plentiful.

Hogsback & King William’s Town

There is a very active, dedicated Facebook group called Cape Parrot Project and the members are happy to advise anyone who is really interested in learning more about these amazing birds.

If you are interested in visiting this area to see the Cape Parrots, you could fly into either Port Elizabeth or East London depending on your other travel plans. I went for Port Elizabeth and rented a car for the trip. You could visit Hogsback or King William’s Town depending on the season and availability of guides. These birds are much less noisy than I had anticipated and I would have had a lot of trouble locating them without the help of Rodnick Biljon from the Cape Parrots group. He monitors them regularly and knows where to find them. I won’t post an exact map of where they are currently found to protect the birds from potential poachers but I suggest contacting Rodnick on Facebook.

Another member of the Cape Parrot group, Joanne Stolk runs a wonderful little guest house called 2 Oaks Guesthouse which I reviewed on a separate post. You can also expect more Cape Parrot photos and other birding opportunities in King William’s Town!

Eastern Rosella (Platycercus eximius)

Posted on November 14, 2014 by Tara

The Eastern Rosella was named by George Shaw in 1792 and in my opinion is one of Australia’s most beautiful birds.

Three subspecies of Eastern Rosella are recognised:

P. e. eximius, Victoria and southern New South Wales. Black feathers on the back have green margins. Rump is pale green.
P. e. elecica, northeast New South Wales and southeast Queensland. In the male the black feathers on the back have golden-yellow margins, and greenish-yellow in the female. The rump is bluish-green. This subspecies is also called the Golden-mantled Rosella.
P. e. diemenensis, eastern Tasmania. White cheek patches are larger and the red on the head is darker.

My photos above are the Tasmanian subspecies. We saw them easily around Hobart in the Botanical Gardens and near the Travelodge Airport Hotel. I have also seen the 2nd subspecies around the Girraween area in South-east Queensland.

LEARN MORE ABOUT EASTERN ROSELLAS

Tasmanian Parks & Wildlife

VIDEO

Don’t be fooled, these are wild birds who set up housekeeping in someone’s backyard!

Green Rosella (Platycercus caledonicus)

Posted on November 4, 2014 by Tara

The Green Rosella or Tasmanian Rosella (Platycercus caledonicus) is endemic to Tasmania and Bass Strait islands. At 37 cm (14.5 in) long it is the largest species of the rosella genus, Platycercus. Its diet is composed of seeds, fruit, berries and flowers, as well as insects and insect larvae.

Green Rosellas are endemic to Tasmania and are commonly seen throught the island. I saw them best on Bruny Island and Freycinet National Park.

LEARN MORE ABOUT GREEN ROSELLAS

Tasmania Parks & Wildlife

VIDEO

Mike Grant has some nice close up footage on YouTube.

Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoo (Calyptorhynchus funereus)

Posted on October 14, 2014 by Tara

The Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoo (Calyptorhynchus funereus) is a large cockatoo native to the south-east of Australia measuring 55–65 cm (22–26 in) in length. It has a short crest on the top of its head. Its plumage is mostly brownish black and it has prominent yellow cheek patches and a yellow tail band. The body feathers are edged with yellow giving a scalloped appearance.

These photos were taken near the Cheese Shop on Bruny Island.

Here’s a couple pics taken near Stanthorpe, Queensland.

The Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoo is found in forested regions from south and central eastern Queensland to southeastern South Australia and on Tasmania. I have seen them near the afore-mentioned Cheese Shop on Bruny Island, near Hobart, near Girraween in South-East Queensland and on the road to Lamington National Park. They can also be seen in the outer suburbs of Brisbane near Mt Glorius.

LEARN MORE ABOUT YELLOW-TAILED BLACK COCKATOOS

Tasmania Parks & Wildlife

VIDEO

Nice close-ups of a YTBC eating.

Swift Parrot (Lathamus discolor)

Posted on September 24, 2014 by Tara

The Swift Parrot (Lathamus discolor) breeds in Tasmania and migrates north to south eastern Australia from Griffith-Warialda in New South Wales and west to Adelaide in the winter. It is related to the rosellas, with the feeding habits of a lorikeet. It is the only member in the genus Lathamus. The Swift Parrot is endangered with only about 1000 pairs remaining in the wild, and its population is declining. They do live up to their name and were too swift for me to get a good shot on Bruny Island so I have to use the Wikipedia photo.

Here are my feeble attempts.

Swift Parrots have a large range during the non-breeding season as they migrate to the south and east coast of mainland Australia. Many lucky Tasmanians have Swift Parrots coming into their backyards. It is much easier to see them on Bruny Island in Tasmania where they breed and are easier to find. Captain Cook Caravan Park in Adventure Bay has Swifties coming into the trees on their grounds. Look for them on flowering gum trees.

LEARN MORE ABOUT SWIFT PARROTS

Tasmania Parks & Wildlife

VIDEO

Here’s an excellent mini-doco from NSW National Parks.

Eastern Ground Parrot (Pezoporus wallicus)

Posted on September 17, 2014 by Tara

The Eastern Ground Parrot (Pezoporus wallicus) of Australia is one of only three ground-dwelling parrots in Australia, the others being its closest relatives, the Western Ground Parrot (Pezoporus flaviventris) and the extremely rare Night Parrot (Pezoporus occidentalis).

Eastern Ground Parrot photo from Wikipedia

I took these photos in Strahan and Melaleuca. I wasn’t fast enough to get a clear shot.

You will usually have to flush a Ground Parrot to see it. This means walking carefully through the bush where they are known to live and watching for them. When disturbed, a ground parrot flies swiftly just above the ground before dropping back into the vegetation. The presence of the bird is often only revealed by its characteristic dusk and dawn call, a clear whistling sequence of notes which rise in pitch before fading. It is silent in flight. Please do not harass a Ground Parrot. Once you flush one, get your camera ready, walk slowly towards where he landed and he will flush again. Get your photo, then leave the bird alone.

The Ground Parrot is found in scattered populations along the east coast of Australia, from south-east coastal Queensland and in pockets in north-east and southern New South Wales, through to coastal areas of Gippsland in Victoria and the islands of the Bass Strait to its stronghold in Tasmania. The most reliable place to see them is in Strahan either near the old airport or near the Wilderness Lodge.

Blue dots are Strahan & Melaleuca – best places to see Eastern Ground Parrots

LEARN MORE ABOUT EASTERN GROUND PARROTS

Wikipedia

World Parrot Trust

Birdlife

Tasmania Parks & Wildlife

NSW Environment

Biodiversity Australia

VIDEOS

Unfortunately there aren’t any videos of Eastern Ground Parrots on YouTube where I can embed them here. There are a few short clips filmed at Strahan on IBC but you need to view them over there.

A Magical Encounter With Orange-bellied Parrots

Posted on September 12, 2014 by Tara

Melaleuca is by far the easiest place to see these critically endangered little parrots. Orange-bellied Parrots (OBPs) are still fewer than 50 in the wild. Last year, some captive bred OBPs were released at Melaleuca in hopes that they would breed and they did! We are now eagerly awaiting more news when the OBPs start returning to Melaueca in the spring. For more updates, follow Save the Orange-bellied Parrot on Facebook.

When you take the Par Avion trip, most people will take off on a nature hike with their pilot/guide. We wanted to spend as much time as possible with the OBPs so our guide showed us to the path leading to the bird hide.

It’s a pretty small hide so we had to take turns going inside.

I gasped in delight as some OBPs were already there feeding alongside some Beautiful Firetails. The two species seemed to get along just fine either feeding side by side or taking turns.

While we were waiting our turn to go in the hide, we stood on a small hill behind the hide and watched the OBPs and some other birds waiting their turn for the food.

One of this year’s young. This little guy and his siblings will make a long flight in a few weeks to Victoria even though they are only a few months old! They just seemed so fragile to me, I can’t believe they actually survive such a long flight over water!

Was he waving at the Beautiful Firetail?

All the birds are banded, you can see the orange leg ring on this one. The rings allow researchers to keep track of them here and on the mainland.

Orange-bellied Parrot (Neophema chrysogaster)

Orange-bellied Parrots eating

You can tell the adults as their orange belly is much brighter. The youngsters won’t have the colours until their first moult.

We made two visits to the OBP hide, before and after lunch. We did have to be polite and let everyone in the hide but fortunately only about 7 or 8 people were really spending a lot of time with these birds so we had plenty of time. When we left, we felt so privileged to have met these delicate but brave little birds. In a couple months, they will start returning to Melaleuca, I hope they all have a safe journey and the 2014 breeding season is even more successful!

Musk Lorikeet (Glossopsitta concinna)

Posted on September 7, 2014 by Tara

The Musk Lorikeet (Glossopsitta concinna) is a lorikeet, one of the three species of the Glossopsitta genus. It inhabits south-central/eastern Australia. The musk lorikeet was first described by ornithologist George Shaw in 1790 as Psittacus concinnus, from a collection in the vicinity of Port Jackson in what is now Sydney.

All the photos in this post were taken by me in Melbourne.

Musk lorikeets are found in eastern New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia and Tasmania. I have personally seen them at Woodlands Historic Park near the Melbourne International Airport, near Cambridge Airport in Hobart and several places in South-east Queensland. Airline miles can get you to any of these places in Australia. They are easily recognized by the red-streak across their face covering their eyes. I called it “war paint”!

LEARN MORE ABOUT MUSK LORIKEETS

VIDEO

Mike Grant has some nice footage of Musk Lorikeets on YouTube.

Rimatara Lorikeets Coming In To Roost

Posted on August 16, 2014 by Tara

After taking the Circle Island Tour of Rimatara, it was time to get our first glimpse of the beautiful native Lorikeets. We already had a morning birding tour booked for the next day with the resident guide, Mooroa Tiraha so decided just to take a short walk towards Anapoto to the nearest banana patch. It didn’t take long before a pair of Lorikeets came down for a quick bite before settling in for the night. Having gotten my first close up photos, it was back to the bungalow to watch the sun set.

You can barely see an ‘oromao a.k.a. Rimatara Reed-warbler hiding in this tree!

He’s had enough so good night!

Ultramarine Lorikeet (Vini ultramarina)

Posted on July 28, 2014 by Tara

Ultramarine Lorikeet (Vini ultramarina)

The Utramarine Lorikeet or Lory (Vini ultramarina), also known as the lori ultramarin in French, is a species of parrot in the Psittaculidae family, endemic to the Marquesas Islands. They are called “Pihiti” by the locals. They are considered endangered as they only exist on the one island of Ua Huka in the Marquesas.

Location of Ua Huka

Manu, the Ornithological Society of French Polynesia is very concerned with conserving them and keeping the island free from black rats. These rats climb trees and kill nesting birds, babies and eggs.

Ultramarine Lorikeets aka Pihiti are regularly seen in the Hokatu Valley. I saw them from a fair distance while sitting on the verandah of my bungalow but they were too fast to get a good photo.

We went birding with local Manu-trained guide, Geoffray Sulpice who took us to his plantation where I was able to get closer shots of the birds perched, courting and eating.