Photographed this crimson rosella today - thought he looked short and when he flew away saw why - no tail. Have a recollectio I saw one last year - is this normal - a seasonal thing
Diane
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Normal? Not sure. If you'd ask me, I would say some predator like a cat grabed hold of it and ripped it off? They also have fight amongst themselves at my place. I have found the odd pile of tail feathers, but I always suspect the cats people don't keep inside
M-L
I dunno if its normal, but I'm glad this has come up- I saw an Eastern Rosella the other day without a tail and I was quite surprised. I thought it was cats (or dogs or foxes) too, but wasn't entirely sure. One thought I had was that it could be natural as the Rosella didn't seem to suffer any adverse effects from the lack of a tail- it could fly just as fast as the others and turn just as well as them. But, I don't know; I couldn't find anything on the internet to suggest it is a natural process.
Don't know if it helps or related but both of my pet birds , canaries and cockatiel have done the same on different occasions ( my thoughts are just part of molting ) . They grew back pretty fast , but boy they look funny without a tail. Here is Miss Dolly with no tail sitting on my leg twiddling one of her feathers.
Kerry - Perth, Western Australia.
Can be quite common , probably gone through a particularly heavy moult.
Neil