I spent my youth in the Goomburra Valley in SE Qld in the 1940-50s. This
valley runs east-west and is 2 valleys north (about 10 km ?) of the
Cunningham Highway which runs over Cunninghams Gap on the western side
of the Great Divide. We had Eastern Rosellas to the south (Warwick) and
Pale-headed to the north (Pilton - Greenmount). However, all rosellas in
the valley at that time (and they were plentiful) were hybrids between
the two - neither one species nor the other - a very mixed lot with
characteristics of those two species. It was always a highlight to go to
Warwick and see the brilliant red-headed pure Easterns. I left there in
1959 but on a visit back there about 25 years later, I was surprised to
find that all birds in the valley were pure Eastern - no sign of a
single hybrid.
In the early 1950s, one of these hybrids paired with a Crimson Rosella
around my family's farm midway down the valley. Crimson was normally
absent from this more open country (Crimson replaced the
Eastern/Pale-headed Rosellas in the denser wet sclerophyll at the top of
the valley but I never saw signs of hybridisation between Crimson and
the hybrids there despite many visits into that country). The pair flew
about together for about 2 years but we saw no sign of a breeding
attempt. My family had an aviary and a small collection of parrots at
that time so we were quite observant of local parrots.
Lloyd Nielsen
Mt Molloy Nth Qld.
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