Hello all. This morning I went to visit my sister who has a rural farmlet. I usually take out a packet of harmony for the scaly breast and rainbow lorikeets however this morning I added sunflower seeds. Just as well because down came a mature male king parrot! He was so tame and not at all bothered by us sitting withing arms reach. I would say he must be recieving food from neighbouring properties as he even had his back to us as he fed. We loved it but it does pose the question of unscrupulous people catching birds so tame. What do you think? good or bad to feed wild birds?
regards ck
Gidday Ceekay, We are all guilty of it at some stage,the thing that most concerns me is the feeding of seed to Lorrikeets.
Lorries have a fine "brush" on their tongues for nectar feeding and seed can seriously damage these brushes even though they love seed.
In time they are unable to feed on nectars as this brush wears down and I don't need to tell you the end result.
I used to feed them at my old place and I fed them mango,apple etc.
Hope this helps.
Thanks Tassie, I was not aware of the brush problem with feeding seeds to lorikeets--thanks for that. I will have to work out a system so I can still feed both the parrot and lorikeets without doing either any damage. They are just so special and the king parrot is absolutely magestic. I am hand raising an eastern rosella at the moment. He is only a few weeks old and a real joy! I have been trying to post a pic of him however the wrong pic keeps coming up so I will give it a break and try again tomorrow.
Ceekey you should find that the king parrot will be happy to eat fruit as well. Should be worth a try.
See Yez
Trev
thanks for the advice. I took fruit out this morning but the king parrot did not show--just noisy lorrikeets. They are a real joy to watch with their prancing and hopping. Just love them.