Philip
They may not be truly migratory but my records show that Eastern Rosellas
are certainly far more common in the Dunlop area between March and July
each year.
Joe Barr
At 10:06 PM 20/04/2005 +1000, you wrote:
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.
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