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Some time in the last week the Eastern Rosella family has vacated the nest box in my yard. The attendance of the mother had been getting far more frequent, the chicks could be heard much easier. The mother was looking very scruffy at the end of that time, quite dirty with only I think 2 tail feathers left. The male would usually attend and leave with her. Then it stopped I think early this week. The Crimson Rosellas had resumed an interest peering in and a non reaction from the easterns was also a suggestion that they had left. Several times over the last few weeks Lia Battisson has assisted by coming here with an optical probe on a pole lent by Bill Handke, from which we could see probably 5 chicks, although I think there were 7 eggs. Yesterday we had our last look it was clearly abandoned and had one dead chick. Today I opened the bottom and cleaned out the yucky mess, with a tiler's trowel and a house, as gravity and a stick was clearly not enough. Mind you I had not cleaned it out since the Crimson Rosellas used it the prior year. It included one dead half grown Eastern Rosella chick, suggesting that all the others lived to full grown and got out at the right time at some time I wasn't looking. I have not seen the family locally since. Not that I have tried hard.
Philip Veerman
24 Castley Circuit
Kambah ACT 2902
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