In October 2010 B.H. and I did a road trip which looped from Townsville out west as far as Hughenden, Winton, Roma, Carvarvon Gorge, Longreach, Charters Towers and back to Townsville.
At an overnight stop at Fairbairn Dam and Lake Maraboon we were pleasantly surprised when some rainbow lorikeets decided to share our mandarins.
Rainbow Lorikeets are Australian native birds. It is illegal to capture a wild bird but they can be purchased from breeders.
As I am writing this our Golden Penda tree is covered in fluffy yellow nectar laden blooms that are irresistible to these colourful crazy birds. Hanging upside down to get at the food and screeching raucously, they then depart as one with an earsplitting farewell – off to find the next tree.
Isn’t nature fantastic?
Happy Fantastic Friday.
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WOW!!! They are absolutely gorgeous! I’ve been admiring them since I got to Oz, but have never been able to get that close. Fantastic shots. 🙂
We were in a caravan park Krista so I guess they were used to humans and being fed. The ones you are seeing are probably not so used to humans. We used to have a big Euodia Tree right next to our verandah and the lorikeets used to be very close to us there, but the tree fell over in a cyclone and although we have replanted it is not large enough yet to attract the birds. It does however attract the Dunk Island Blue Butterfly which is extremely hard to photograph.
You have captured the vibrant colours of the bird in the largest photo beautifullly. One of my favourite memories as a child is of feeding these birds at Currumbin Sancturary on the Gold Coast.
Me too Danielle, they were crazy weren’t they? I remember them sitting on my head.
I wish we got birds like that here in Calgary. The closest we’d get to that kind of colour is the Western Tanager.Today I was lucky enough to see about 1000 Cedar Waxwings overhead. It may be a grey day outside but seeing birds like that sure picks up your spirits.
How wonderful to see so many birds at once Leigh! If you did get rainbow lorikeets, imagine how pretty they would be against the snow. I guess they are so colourful to blend in with their habitat here.
oh I just love these rainbow birds, they are so cheeky and yes very loud. I’ve never had one eat from my hand in the wild. I love the way they sqwark and bicker amongst themselves. xx
I have been rethinking what I said about them hanging upside down to eat the nectar. I think they hang upside down because they like to!
Its amazing the different colours that Lorikeets have – they sure are loud when they are eating together, but so very gorgeous. I love Australia wildlife.
They sure look like they are enjoying your mandarins!
They were so bold. The next day they sat on the caravan and screeched for more!