Arriving at the ANU (Canberra) this morning I witnessed a gruesome and, to
me, extraordinary event. I heard Little Corellas calling (must be an
invasion into Canberra at the moment) and saw at least 4 leaning over the
edge of the roof of the building. At the corner of the roof a female
Crimson Rosella was working at excavating a nest hole (in an inverted
posture). The Correlas and a SC Cockatoo appeared to be harrasing this
bird while an attendant male atttempted to mount some defensive cover. In
this mellee, the female Rosella jammed her left foot in the roof edging and
unable to manouver effectively was grabbed by the neck by the Cockatoo.
The Cockatoo jumped off the roof and swung from the neck of the Rosella for
several seconds. Having delivered a fatal injury the Cockatoo flew off
screaming with delight. The female Rosella was left hanging by the foot,
flopping pathetically with blood dripping heavily from a neck gash. The
male Rosella appeared to attempt further defence against the Corellas but
seemed to give up fairly quickly as his female was obviously dead (hanging
upside down by the foot, wings hanging and blood dripping) with the
Corellas in hot pursuit. Two Pied Currawongs moved in almost instantly and
proceded to demolish the corpse......... watched intently by the Little
Corellas.
A dismal start to the day by any standards (at least I'm not a Rosella)
which lightened up with additional sightings of Correlas later in the day.
I wouldn't like to fall asleep in our car park......... I'd be ripped to
shreds in seconds!!!
For the Canberra birders, I observed a Peacful Dove in Cook during the week
along the cycle path between Belconnen Way and the main road through Cook
(I don't know the name off the top of my head). The bird was not too
distant from the horse paddocks where there was a Peacful Dove a couple of
winters ago. This bird was very wary of my presence and appeared to be
associating with Crested Pigeons.
Good Birding!!
Milburn
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