Eastern Rosella by RobGeraghty, on Flickr

[Unregistered User 8]

A wonderful image Rob.

[RobG]

A wonderful image Rob.

Thank you! One day I hope to get really close, but they are very shy.

[Sailor]

Brilliant color, Rob. A real pleasure to see!

Jer

[RobG]

Brilliant color, Rob. A real pleasure to see!

Thanks Jer! I think that the Eastern Rosella is the most beautiful parrot in Eastern Australia, but they are shy and that makes it hard to photograph them. This is quite a significant crop, even at 450mm on the big lens. Hopefully one day I'll get closer to one. There's another inland parrot which I'd like to get more photos of, the Ringneck, but travelling is a challenge at the moment.

[K2 to K50]

That is a very nice catch, Rob. I am jealous - so far have only caught fleeting sightings of this bird myself, except for one occasion near Killarney Qld, where a roadside Cafe had bird feeders out, and there were birds everywhere, including the Eastern. My poor eyeballs were going every which way! Got some great shots, but did feel like I had cheated a little.

[RobG]

That is a very nice catch, Rob. I am jealous - so far have only caught fleeting sightings of this bird myself, except for one occasion near Killarney Qld, where a roadside Cafe had bird feeders out, and there were birds everywhere, including the Eastern. My poor eyeballs were going every which way! Got some great shots, but did feel like I had cheated a little.

In Killarney I'm surprised you didn't see the local variant; the Pale Headed Rosella. I used to see them all the time around SE Qld and northern NSW. I used to love feeding the birds at O'Reilly's in Lamington National Park, but the birds end up getting aggressive to the point where it was hard to enjoy lunch outside at the cafe because of dive-bombing birds attacking your plate. At Killarney you probably also would have seen King Parrots and Crimson Rosellas as well as possibly Rainbow Lorikeets (another aggressive parrot albeit a pretty one).

I hope you get to photograph some Eastern Rosellas in the wild - there's plenty in the Canberra region but they are shy!

[lesmore49]

Nice shot of that beautiful bird. What a colour palette.

[K2 to K50]

In Killarney I'm surprised you didn't see the local variant; the Pale Headed Rosella. I used to see them all the time around SE Qld and northern NSW. I used to love feeding the birds at O'Reilly's in Lamington National Park, but the birds end up getting aggressive to the point where it was hard to enjoy lunch outside at the cafe because of dive-bombing birds attacking your plate. At Killarney you probably also would have seen King Parrots and Crimson Rosellas as well as possibly Rainbow Lorikeets (another aggressive parrot albeit a pretty one).

I hope you get to photograph some Eastern Rosellas in the wild - there's plenty in the Canberra region but they are shy!

Yep, pretty much all of those, Rob, plus some striking satin bower birds, with the purple eyes. It was a smorgasbord of bird shots waiting to be taken. Others have spotted a Pale Headed Rosella in a local park only fifteen minutes from where I live - and caught it with their ^%$&^%$^& smart phone!!!


If you are interested, see

Satin Bower BIrds (Female) - PentaxForums.com

and


Smorgasbord of Birds - PentaxForums.com

But like I said - it was almost too easy. Catching one just out and about - as you have this one - would be so much more satisfying.

[ToddK]

This is a really beautiful capture of an amazing bird Rob! Well done.

[pichaser]

Eastern Rosella by RobGeraghty, on Flickr

Such a lovely bird deserves a fine photo . Your work merits praise .

[RobG]

Nice shot of that beautiful bird. What a colour palette.

Thanks! The variety of colour on these birds is why I have been trying to get good shots of them.

This is a really beautiful capture of an amazing bird Rob! Well done.

Thanks Todd! It was worth a bit of sneaking, but the amount of dry bark on the ground made it hard!

Such a lovely bird deserves a fine photo . Your work merits praise .

Thank you!

---------- Post added 10-06-20 at 10:25 PM ----------

Yep, pretty much all of those, Rob, plus some striking satin bower birds, with the purple eyes. It was a smorgasbord of bird shots waiting to be taken. Others have spotted a Pale Headed Rosella in a local park only fifteen minutes from where I live - and caught it with their ^%$&^%$^& smart phone!!!

Well, you may have to hang out in the park for a while.

If you are interested, see

Nice! I think the Rosella is a hybrid. It has the pale blue of the Pale Headed Rosella around its tail, and the back is quite yellow, while the birds here are more green on the back.

But like I said - it was almost too easy. Catching one just out and about - as you have this one - would be so much more satisfying.

I'll keep stalking and try to get closer. Yes, it's satisfying - I hardly ever set up with a tripod, and usually my bird photos are what I see while going for walks. In this case I was hoping to see some Glossy Black Cockatoos, but they had moved on.

I'm told that it's possible to tell female Satin Bowerbirds and young males apart, but I haven't figured it out. Something about the colour of the bill and the eyes, I think. The males don't turn blue until the age of about five. Before that, they look like females.

[Kerrowdown]

Eastern Rosella

Great shot, I'm quite jealous... we have nothing so colourful here.

[RobG]

Great shot, I'm quite jealous... we have nothing so colourful here.

Thanks! Maybe the birds in the north are too busy staying warm to grow colourful feathers? A lot of birds seem to have evolved in Australia; maybe we kept the best to ourselves?
About the most colourful birds I can recall seeing in the UK are Magpies and Robins. On the other hand, Canberra seems to have lots of parrots - Eastern Rosellas, Crimson Rosellas, Galahs, Sulphur-crested Cockatoos, Yellow-Tailed Black Cockatoos, Gang-gangs, Rainbow Lorikeets, Red-rumped Parrots, Superb Parrots, King Parrots, Corellas and some less common ones like Swift Parrots and Glossy-black Cockatoos.

[Heinrich Lohmann]

An absolute gorgeous image of a bird that I that I have never seen alive. Thanks for posting it,