With the first week of autumn Galahs are flocking around my home patch of Holt. At 07:00 hrs yesterday I counted 38 in trees at Woolworths carpark, Kippax. There mighthave
been closer to 50 as well as Eastern Rosellas and Red-rumped Parrots. However I became a little distracted by passers-by inquiring, “What are you doing, are you birdwatching?” One charming lady asked, “What do you call those big pink and grey ones? [!]”
“Galahs,” I said. “What do you call them?”
“Riverina Parrots,” she said.
Vernacular bird names can be an irritation at times but, nonetheless, a source of amusement and interest.
Thirty minutes later, behind Kippax Fair, I watched a group of seven Willie Wagtails hunting as they climbed, swooped and swept through the humid air. Nearby, on the oval
embankment, twenty Red-rumped Parrots grazed accompanied by four dependant young.
John Layton
Holt.
