Ruth’s brother adopted a Rainbow Lorikeet when it joined him and his staff
at a company BBQ. It was clearly tame, but a little scraggly-looking, so he
took it home. It now lives in the house with the family – and it is also a
little aggressive with everyone except him (much to the chagrin of his wife
who feeds it, cleans its accommodation and generally looks after it).
Paul Dodd
Docklands, Melbourne
From: Bill Stent
Sent: Saturday, 12 April 2008 10:06 AM
To: Karen; Russell Woodford; Birding-Aus
Cc: Paul Dodd; Peter Shute; ; ;
Subject: The mad lorikeet
This morning something kinda funny happened. It was at about 7:30, and we
were just getting up when we noticed a hot air balloon landing in the park
in the next street. As usual, this created quite a stir amongst the
neighbourhood kids and so we went down to watch. After we'd helped roll up
the balloon (which weighs 950kg without the basket) we were all standing
around talking. Suddenly we were approached by a rainbow lorikeet, who
fluttered around the group curiously. They obviously know birdos, because
it landed on my head. Clearly an escapee.
It was very friendly, and spent time on all the kids' heads, and it endeared
itself immediately. It doen't fly very strongly though, and it would
struggle up to flowering eucalypts before returning to us.
Not wanting to leave it to the park and its goshawks, we brought it home,
where we fed it commercial seed and fresh sliced apples (which it totally
devoured). Clearly it was very hungry. It then began to talk and even wolf
whistle. We can't make out what it's saying, though, just human-sounding
murmurs.
However, with increasing strength, its true nature emerged. This bird is
totally INSANE and a bit aggressive. It now owns our back yard and defends
it against any human who approaches. Emma has turned from a bird lover to a
total aviphobe (if that's a word). She's sporting three bandaids, Jan's
bleeding quite nicely, and (sniff) even I have been bitten, but not very
hard. (Jan says: He was wearing gloves, the chicken).
We've given it its own feeder, out of kid reach (but not safe from
goshawks), but now want to know what we should do with it. I'm happy to let
it be, and live there until it decides to go somewhere else. Because it's a
rainbow lorikeet, I'd be surprised that anyone will be pamphletting the area
- although we'll keep a look out.
Any suggestions (please be nice)?
(PS, Anthea, I think I've already got your lorikeet recipe, which is shaping
up to be the preferred option...)
No virus found in this incoming message.
Checked by AVG.
Version: 7.5.519 / Virus Database: 269.22.12/1374 - Release Date: 11/04/2008
4:59 PM
No virus found in this outgoing message.
Checked by AVG.
Version: 7.5.519 / Virus Database: 269.22.12/1374 - Release Date: 11/04/2008
4:59 PM
==============================www.birding-aus.org
birding-aus.blogspot.com
To unsubscribe from this mailing list,
send the message:
unsubscribe
(in the body of the message, with no Subject line)
to:
=============================
|
