Following a tip-off, I went up to the area between Mt Madjura and Mt Ainslie,
in
Canberra, today Sunday 21 July 1996. With some difficulty I found three
Glossies, one
adult female and two adult males, feeding quietly, as usual, in casuarinas.
I rarely see these birds. After all, Canberra is out of what we have always
thought to
be their normal range, though they have been around many times over the last
three years
or so. The female had lots of yellow on the head, far more than the field
guides and
Forshaw's The Parrots of the World suggest. Her cheeks and throat were quite
yellow;
the nape and crown was speckled yellow and brown. Is it common to see them
with as much
yellow as I have described?
I looked at the latest Simpson & Day field guide and was reminded of a
(slightly unkind)
post on this list where someone said that the guide looks great when you first
get it
but the book becomes worse the more you use it! Certainly a beginner would be
confused
by the illustration of the female Glossie there: it has a distinct yellow
collar only.
David
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David McDonald Voice: +61-6-231 8904 (home)
PO Box 1355 Voice: +61-6-260 9231 (work)
WODEN ACT 2606 Facsimile: +61-6-260 9201 (work)
AUSTRALIA E-mail: (home)
E-mail: (work)
"Things are more like they used to be than they were before"
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