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Eastern Rosella

Platycercus eximius

There aren't many bird species that have the range of colors of an Eastern Rosella! On our Australia trip in 2019, one place we stayed was near Bellingen, a small town just inland from the central Australian coast. It was a wonderful rural location, with the owners of our cabin having a large area of land with a mix of habitats that was great for birding. They also had many fruit trees on their property, which certainly attracted many birds, including multiple parrot species.

Given my wife and son aren't birders, trips like the Australia trip aren't "birding trips". I try to fit in my birding time as I can, with much of that coming in the early mornings. A typical vacation schedule is me getting up at the crack of dawn and walking around birding while my wife and son sleep in. That was the case on this day in June of 2019, when I started walking the long gravel road going through the property of the B&B owners. The day before, I'd seen a pair of Eastern Rosellas visiting an area of fruit trees on the property, but they were very spooky and wouldn't let me get close enough for photos. On this morning, I simply plunked myself down amidst some bushes near the fruit trees right at dawn, trying to minimize my visibility and get photos of birds as they came in to feed on the fruit.

There were at least four Eastern Rosellas that came to feed on the fruit that morning, but they were still quite spooky. The tended to come in and grab a bite or two before flying off to a nearby perch. But often when they'd come into the fruit trees, they'd make a short intermediate stop on the branches of a small dead tree. I repositioned myself in the hopes of capturing the photo of one as it landed on one of those trees, and was able to capture the photo below. Not the greatest light in the world, on a cloudy, relatively gloomy morning, but in the case of an Eastern Rosella, they almost make their own light!

Click here to see more photos from this 2019 Australia trip

Click here for more photos of this species