Margaret
There was a pair of corellas (one Little, one Long-billed) at/in a hollow in a Blakely’s Red Gum on 22 September last year at one of the sites that I survey regularly on Red Hill as part of COG’s Woodland Survey.
Prior to this, a Long-billed Corella had been recorded during these Red Hill surveys on:
17 Dec 2006
29 Mar 2008 with a flock of Sulphur-crested Cockatoos
27 Jun 2009 appeared to be a paired with a Little Corella as evidenced by allopreening.
4 Oct 2009 ousted a galah from the vicinity of a nest hole then occupied the entrance for the 10-minute duration of the survey.
13 Dec 2009
The Red Hill site is not that far from Callum Brae – may well be the same pair.
Harvey
http://hdpphd.blogspot.com.au/
From: Margaret Leggoe [
Sent: Tuesday, 1 April 2014 1:31 PM
To:
Subject: [canberrabirds] Hybrid on Callum Brae???
For some years now I have encountered, on and off, a corella pair, one long-billed and one little corella. I always know them because long-bill has a metal ring on one leg. There have been no reports of them breeding, but, if the little
corella is the same one, the pair have been faithful for years. One might call them Romeo and Juliet, albeit with greater longevity.
Today they turned up at nursery corner, and a third corella was with them, and obviously very close because at one stage little was grooming the third arrival. Now, the new arrival looks a bit like a long-billed, but not quite, with less
red wash about the face and neck. Also, its crest is more like that of a little.
Attached is a photo (very small to comply with chatline rules) of the three. I have other more detailed images, and if you let me know you are interested, I can send them to you privately. They are really not of a high enough standard
for me to want to put them on FlickR for everyone on the planet to see.
Margaret Leggoe
