Some new rosellas came to look at the box today. You can often tell them apart by slight differences in their patterns esp. dribbles of red on the yellow in males and how much green or yellow is on the back of teh head in females.
Our Mr Rosella is a splendid fellow with no red on his yellow
Our Mrs Rosella has only a small amount of yellow on the back of her head
This male rosella has a large red mark on his yellow. He was very excited when he saw the box.
His wife has a lot of green on the back of her head. She looked into the box and jumped in fright and flew onto a branch when she saw Mrs Rosella inside the box
This is a 3rd male with only a small red spot on his yellow. I'm not sure where his wife was. After I looked at the photo I realised he was munching on something
Ha ha! Let's hope the drama ends there. If they end up fighting over the nest it could end up in more than tears!
- soakes
soakes
Olinda, Victoria, Australia
How nice to have these nesting in your backyard, Birdgirl. Perhaps you need a second box in another tree. Nice and sharp images. Thanks for posting.
Cheers,
George
Melbourne, VIC
HI Birdgirl
I hope they are all OK, I am 99.9% sure that I have a pair nesting in my nest box she must come out of a morning for some food and he calls her back to the box again thats when I see her go in and she dosn't come out again but he is back and forth all day calling to her have not yet got a photo as for all the trees.
Thanks everyone
Geroge - one year we did have two boxes, with 6 babies in one and 4 in the other. They need to be at least 3 metres apart. But it is a bit dangerous to climb up the trees to clean the boxes at the end of each nesting, so there is only one up there at the moment
smeedingo2 - congratulations! How are things going? We can hear our female scratching around inside the box. After the babies hatch you can hear a distinctive sound, sort of like a small motor revving softly
Until I saw this post I had no idea that there could be subtle differences between individual birds of a sub species. I suppose when you come to look at their behaviour birds are not all that different to us humans. They are just as territorial and all are driven by the need for food and shelter, and to survive and procreate.
Regards, "Tark" - Olympus 4/3rds colour