Here in Newcastle there is also a communal roost for rainbow lorikeets,
in fig trees near a multi-story carpark and ovals, with lots of lighting
on at night. Every night 500-1000 birds (I haven't done a proper count)
roost in just a handful of trees there - and lots of common mynas also
are roosting in the same set of trees.
So, at about midway between Brisbane and Melbourne, the behaviour seems
to be the same.
Alan
-----Original Message-----
From:
On Behalf Of Wendy
Sent: Wednesday, 28 March 2007 9:19 AM
To:
Subject: Lorikeet roosting and city lights
Likewise here in Coburg, inner N Melbourne. The local population roosts
in
palm trees near the corner of Bell St and Sydney Rd (becomes Hume
Highway)
just adjacent to Coburg Shopping strip with thousands of cars, trams and
~ 5
bus routes. Before the lorikeets arrived some years ago this was the
domain
of the Mynahs. I'm always intrigued to find the 2 species still share
the
roost. The lorikeets go in first and the mynahs wait.
A friend recently told me of the experience of waiting for a bus on BUSY
peak morning Bell St in nearby Preston. Hundreds of Rainbows were
noisily
and energetically feeding in and flying around flowering Spotted Gums in
the
tiny strip (~1m wide) in the middle of the road. He watched in horror
and
amazement expecting any moment the flying about birds to come to grief
in
the traffic. This did not happen. Then a distress call went through the
group and they took off. He looked about expecting to find a raptor.
Instead
a group of S C Cockatoos landed in the same trees - again without mishap
with the considerable traffic which included lots of trucks. The bullies
had
little interest in the Euc flowers. They pottered about for a bit, some
snipped off some twigs of blooms and they too departed, unscathed.
Apart from the relative warmth of this locality due to the heat sink
('tar,
brick and cement') effect on this Rainbow roosting site; possibly the 2
long, large roads provide handy navigational aids to finding the roost.
In
these sparsely treed suburbs the rainbows have to range far and wide to
find
fruit and flowers on which to feed. They also seem to have favoured
staging
points. I have a couple of tall Eucs in front of my place and they seem
to
visit these (noisily) for grooming, socialising etc on there outward and
inward journeys.
Wendy
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