Adult King Parrots feeding dependent young has been observed almost on a daily basis at or near my home address over the last three weeks. The adults have been seen utilising a variety of food sources including a fruiting Cotoneaster hedge, the ripening seed pods of Bursaria spinosa; and this morning, the green berries on a Hawthorn Crataegus. The loud, repeated begging calls of the juveniles are sharply different from the normal piping whistles of the adults.
The adults of both sexes regularly feed on a saltbush Rhagodia/Einada in the early mornings or evenings, but this occurs throughout the year and I have never seen juveniles involved in this activity. So much so, that the green tips of the saltbush plants seem permanently damaged from this regular feeding at favourite spots where the birds can perch on a solid nearby branch of an adjacent tree or sapling and reach across to the salt bush plant. I also see Crimson Rosellas feeding on the saltbush in this way, but seem not to do so as frequently as the King Parrots do. It may be the birds are eating the saltbush foliage to supplement their diet with mineral salts available from this source.
Ian Baird
15 Fairfax Street
O’Connor
