- Platycercus eximius
Identification
30cm (11¾ in)
Male
- Black shoulders
- Yellow margins to black back feathers
- Red head and upper breast
- White cheeks
- Yellow lower breast
- Green belly
- Blue wings and lateral tail feathers
- Dark green tail
- Red under tail coverts
- Whitish bill
Female: similar but duller
Distribution
Southeast Australia and Tasmania; introduced to New Zealand.
Taxonomy
Subspecies
There are 3 subspecies[1]:
- P. e. elecica:
- Eastern Australia (south-eastern Queensland and north-eastern New South Wales)
- P. e. eximius:
- South-eastern New South Wales, Victoria and south-eastern South Australia
- P. e. diemenensis:
Habitat
Light woodland, mallee, open forests and riverine woods.
Behaviour
Diet
The diet consists of a wide variety of fruit and seeds. They particularly favour eucalyptus and acacia seeds.
Breeding
They nest in tree hollows. The clutch consists of up to 7 white eggs.
References
- Clements, J. F., T. S. Schulenberg, M. J. Iliff, D. Roberson, T. A. Fredericks, B. L. Sullivan, and C. L. Wood. 2018. The eBird/Clements checklist of birds of the world: v2018. Downloaded from http://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/download/
- Avibase
- Handbook of the Birds of the World Alive (retrieved November 2015)
Recommended Citation
- BirdForum Opus contributors. (2024) Eastern Rosella. In: BirdForum, the forum for wild birds and birding. Retrieved 15 June 2024 from https://www.birdforum.net/opus/Eastern_Rosella
External Links
GSearch checked for 2020 platform.1
