Yesterday, on returning from the supermarket to my car in Boronia [
foothills of Mount Dandenong, the Dandenong Ranges, Melbourne,
Victoria], I noticed a flock of 10 little corellas perched on a
powerline in the carpark.
It was 5.20pm, going on dark, overcast, with a very fine, almost
unnoticeable, mist associated with low cloud. Some of the corellas were
hanging upside down with wings outstretched [almost like flying foxes],
and others appeared to be spinning around the line in 360 degree loops..
It was extremely unusual and entertaining, stopped many of the shoppers
going about their business, and provoked some discussion.
My son, Jared thought they were just having some fun. I wondered if they
had found a smart way to 'bath' difficult- to- access parts of their
body.
Has anyone seen this behavior before? What does it mean?
I remember a relative of mine some years ago winning a big prize on
'Funniest Home Video' with some footage taken in a coffee shop in Bali
of a 'cocky' doing 360 degree loops around his perch.
Little Corellas have come to the Dandenong Ranges in large numbers this
year with the intact flock reaching in the vicinity of 200 birds.
Recently I saw the full flock turn a deciduous oak white and then 'snow'
the nearby football oval.
During my son's auskick, one Saturday morning in June, on the same oval
in Boronia, my assistance as a parent coach was rewarded with 11 species
of 'parrots' in two hours
sulphur-crested cockatoo
yellow-tailed black-cockatoo
gang-gang cockatoo
eastern rosella
crimson rosella
little corella
large-billed corella
musk lorikeet
little lorikeet
rainbow lorikeek
galah
and The City of Knox is considering removing many of the old growth
trees in the reserve to provide more parking.
Laurie Living
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