by Nicholas Munday, Adelaide Urban Birding
The subject of this article is perhaps the most visually stunning of all birds found in your Adelaide Park Lands: the Eastern Rosella (Platycercus eximius).
This medium-sized parrot is abundant in the Adelaide region and prefers a habitat consisting of a mix of open grass for feeding, with old-growth trees for nesting and pockets of dense vegetation for cover; in other words, your Adelaide Park Lands are an ideal home for these vibrant birds.
Visually, Eastern Rosellas display a perfect kaleidoscope of colours, with bold red heads, iridescent blue wings, and yellow and green backs contrasting against black ‘scalloped’ patterns; almost like a pen-and-ink drawing come to life. The colours are so striking and iconic the image of this species is emblazoned on the popular ‘Rosella sauce’, which has afforded this bird some degree of name recognition.
Males are ever-so-slightly brighter coloured than females, but the difference is almost imperceptible from a distance. It is typical to see pairs of birds, being a bonded male and female, feeding together on the ground, although sometimes several pairs congregate together where food is plentiful. Naturally shy, when one bird takes flight, usually its companions will follow in a flurry of colours and rapid wing beats.
Eastern Rosella feeding on grass at Victoria Park / Pakapakanthi (Park 16). Photograph: Adelaide Urban Birding.
South Australia is home to two species of Rosella, being members of the genus Platycercus (meaning flat- or broad-tailed): the Crimson Rosella (Platycercus elegans) and the Eastern Rosella (Platycercus eximius). These two species are superficially similar at a distance, although there is a simple characteristic to distinguish them: Crimson Rosellas have blue cheek patches, whereas Eastern Rosellas have white cheeks.
Eastern Rosellas are found right across the south-eastern stretch of the country from Adelaide to just north of Brisbane; however, there is some debate as to whether the Eastern Rosella really belongs in the Mount Lofty Ranges and Adelaide Plains.
An Eastern Rosella in the Adelaide Foothills. It is possible this bird is not a true native of the Adelaide region, but its presence appears not to have caused much interference to the local Crimson (Adelaide) Rosellas. Photograph: Adelaide Urban Birding.
Some sources suggest the birds now found in your Adelaide Park Lands are the result of aviary escapees or deliberate introductions of birds from the eastern states. Alternatively, the birds might be indigenous to the Adelaide region, but have responded remarkably well to urbanisation and experienced a population boom, or could have spread naturally from the eastern states in response to favourable conditions.
The deliberate introduction hypothesis is certainly possible, as these birds have always been popular in aviculture since coming to the attention of Europeans in the late 1700s. They also take very well to urban environments and can populate new areas quickly; for instance, in New Zealand, feral Eastern Rosellas that are descended from a handful of aviary birds now occupy nearly every major city. Fortunately, even if Eastern Rosellas are not true Adelaideans, they appear to coexist relatively well with the local Crimson Rosellas.
Despite the name, ‘Crimson Rosellas’ in South Australia are rarely deep crimson-red (only birds in the south-east or on Kangaroo Island display this colour pattern); instead, variations of orange and yellow better describe the birds found in the Mount Lofty Ranges, and pale-yellow birds occupy the dry mallee areas along the River Murray. The birds found in the immediate Adelaide area are often called ‘Adelaide Rosellas’ (or more formally, Platycercus elegans subadelaidae, although this subspecies description includes birds ranging all the way from Fleurieu Peninsula to the Flinders Ranges).
A typical ‘Crimson Rosella’ from the Adelaide region (photographed here at Waterfall Gully), showing colour combinations of blues, oranges and yellows. Photograph: Adelaide Urban Birding.
An Eastern Rosella showing its distinctive colour-palette of reds, yellows, blues and greens. Photograph: Adelaide Urban Birding.
While parrots are not usually described as ‘musical’ compared to members of the songbird family, Rosellas come about as close as it gets to having a tuneful song in the parrot family. Eastern Rosellas produce a distinctive ‘cling cling’ contact call that sounds almost like a bell or a chime, in addition to a suite of cheerful chattering and whistling calls. These musical tones combined with their extraordinary colours make these birds welcome city residents.
Eastern Rosellas can be found across virtually all of your Adelaide Park Lands, including the city squares. Good places to look for these birds include Botanic Park (Park 11), Rymill Park / Murlawirrapurka (Park 14), Victoria Park / Pakapakanthi (Park 16), and Veale Park / Walyu Yarta (Park 21).
Banner photo (at top): Eastern Rosella by Nicholas Munday, Adelaide Urban Birding.
There is an iNaturalist page, which can show you exactly where citizen scientists (like you!) have observed eastern rosellas in Adelaide and elsewhere.
To find out about other birds in your Adelaide Park Lands, check out our What Bird is That? series.
Nicholas Munday is an Environment and Planning Lawyer with degrees in Law and Science (Evolutionary Biology and Ecology) from the University of Adelaide. He has a strong interest in biodiversity conservation and runs the ‘Adelaide Urban Birding’ Instagram (@adelaideurbanbirding) account dedicated to his photography of native birds in the Adelaide metropolitan area.
In his free time, Nicholas is well-known in the Adelaide choral music and theatre communities, and also enjoys bushwalking, writing, and (of course) photography.
The opinions expressed in this article are entirely those of the author. This author is not affiliated with the Adelaide Park Lands Association Inc.
