Movements of parrots

["Philip Veerman" <>]

Kathy asked "Are Eastern Rosellas migratory?" Basically no. Also it is entirely expected to see "a number of" Eastern Rosellas at any open area anywhere in the Canberra & Queanbeyan area at any time. Strangely I have never seen them in my GBS area at Fyshwick.  They are the most stable in population of all the local parrots.

 

As in this text from the GBS Report, which focuses on the difference in the way the King Parrot, Crimson Rosella, Eastern Rosella and Red-rumped Parrot have responded to changes in Canberra's urban environment over the 21 years of compiled GBS data:

 

Eastern Rosella Platycercus eximius
A conspicuous bird, by its bright colours, noise and confiding disposition. At home in any garden area, it readily comes to seeds and fruit trees. It feeds on grass seeds on the ground more than the Australian King-Parrot and Crimson Rosella. It occurs in smaller groups than the Crimson Rosella. The monthly pattern is similar to that of the Crimson Rosella but not so well defined or consistent. Numbers are lowest in spring but only by a small margin, this is probably related to breeding. Overall numbers of this species have been remarkably constant, apart from a smooth undulation over successive years. This is curious, in that if the provision of food by people has been a factor, it could be expected that all three species would have been affected similarly. This may be because the Eastern Rosella is an inhabitant of open woodland and so the development of Canberra has not affected it so much. Whereas the other two species are by preference forest inhabitants and the initial clearing of land reduced their population and subsequent revegetation as the city matured allowed them to increase. The increase was most dramatic in the largest species, intermediate for the middle one and non-occurring in this species and the smaller (next) species has decreased. Breeding records appear to have been stable. Activity at nest from mid August to mid December. Dependent young from mid October to mid March though the majority are in December and January.
Graphs on page: 94, Rank: 10, Breeding Rank: 14, Breeding graph on page: 106, A = 1.48157, F = 96.53%, W = 52.0, R = 57.693%, G = 2.57.