Today I saw 15 Rainbow
lorikeets in Hawker, at the Park between Woolner and Ambalindum Sts. Although I
didn’t have my binos it appeared there were at least 6 juveniles/immatures with
short tails and dark beaks although none were begging. They left in sub-flocks
of 8 heading NE towards Hawker shops, and a group of 5 and 2 heading East to
Maroak St. I believe 15 is the
biggest flock ever recorded in ACT.
Last week I thought I saw at
least 9 rainbow lorikeets settling down to roost at the end of Dungowan St. But
couldn’t confirm the numbers. So it is good I could confirm with the above. The
end of Dungowan St is SW Hawker (next
to Pinnacle NP) and is probably where they breed. They spend a lot of time near
Hawker Primary, probably where the original birds escaped from many years
ago.
Their home range appears to be
at least 3/4s of Hawker (SE, NE and SW) with forays into Scullin, Weetangera and
I saw 2 birds 2 times in Macquarie. That seems
like quite a big home range to me, although they are nectar feeders
so they probably have to go where the
food is.
Benj
Whitworth
