May-Jun 2010, Volume 20 Issue 3

Until recently the Orange-bellied Parrot was something of a mystery. Earlier this century people believed the bird nested on the ground on offshore islands, although a clutch of eggs was collected from near Bothwell, in the midlands of Tasmania in 1898. Now breeding appears to be confined to holes in eucalypts in coastal regions of South West Tasmania.

Back in the 70s and 80s, African Lovebirds in Australia were all the rage. There were not too many keen aviculturists around at that time that did not keep African Lovebirds of some sort in their back yards. I remember as a kid growing up in South Western Sydney riding my bike around the suburbs and hearing which houses had Lovebirds in their back yards. The dollar value and easy breeding habits of these birds, plus the ability to produce new mutations very quickly, was irresistible to most bird lovers.

Pale-headed Rosella – Platycercus adscitus palliceps. Head colour is a snowy to very slightly yellowish white. Ocassionaly it is creamy white. Generally there is a clear line from the blue/mauve of the abdomen and chest, to the off-white neck/head. Top of head and back of neck can be a snowy white but occasionally is a pale creamy colour that leads down to a blackish mantle that is margined with yellowy gold colours, not dissimilar in colour and form, to the Golden Mantle Eastern Rosella. This sub-specie is generally found in the southern part of the range from mid Southeast Qld through to Northeastern NSW (Moree through to Northern Rivers area) where it overlaps with the Golden Mantle Eastern Rosella. Reasonably well represented as an aviary specimen and relatively inexpensive.