Thread: Calling all bird experts; mystery visitor

Originally Posted by POD

Woohoo, definitely a Princess Parrot, the picture in our bird book is poor quality and the colours don't match, but when I google Princess parrot it brings up photos that match this bird exactly. Is there anything this forum can't do?

The 'Birds of Australia' book that we have shows their range to be in the centre of the continent, long way from here. I wonder if this is an escaped pet. It's been moving from tree to tree with the Kings, all quite happily feeding together.

Yes, I agree with it being a young male Princess Parrot (Parakeet),(Polytelis alexandrae — Princess Parrot, Alexandra's Parrot) most probably an escapee from Healsville Sanctuary.
How lucky for you to see this bird, they are rare, and as you have mentioned their range is confined to central Australia. The species is considered as vulnerable

Originally Posted by SBD4

The OP already knows that the first bird is a King Parrot:



The question is regarding the second bird in that pic & the only bird in all the other pics.

I must be going blind I couldn't see the forest for the trees
Just re read it . Sorry

Princess parrot is a desert parrot,as others have said,way out of it's natural area.
I bred them for years in aviaries.They are beautiful parrots,but need to be wormed regularly.
Easy to breed once you give them the correct seed,vegetables,native flowers,etc.
The colour of both sexes is very similar,the male slightly larger and has longer tail feathers.
The female and juvenile male similar colours.

There are also heaps of mutations around as well,all different colours.

A measurement on google earth tells me we are 67km in a straight line from Healesville Sanctuary, would that be a reasonable distance for an aviary escapee to travel, given that it is almost entirely across dense forest? Perhaps it's escaped from a private aviary closer by. Although my front lawn looks a bit like the central deserts at the moment. Very pretty little bird, funny how the King parrots seem quite happy to let him (actually from my web searching, think it's a her) hang around with them.
We're very blessed with our bird life here at the moment, we've had a family of bellbirds take up residence in the trees near my shed about 10 days ago, we think they were probably displaced by a bushfire nearby that made our lives interesting for a couple of days. Also had a family of gang-gang cockatoos here for a couple of days this week, we only see these every few years.

The parrot could have escaped from anywhere.They have no homeing instinct once they leave the cage.
What they seem to do is hang around any type of wild parrot as you have noticed,particularly if there are none of their own type around.They do this for safety as well,as they will often be attacked by magpies,butcher birds,crows,etc,if alone.

They also sometimes settle around another aviary.When they do this they are often easy to catch as they are normally hungry.
Just put a saucer of seed down and gradually move it towards a small cage such as a budgie cage.Then put the seed in the cage and run a bit of fishing line to the door,so you can shut it from a distance.

I haven't had native parrots for a few years now,but you have to be careful as some are on the 'list',so you need a permit for them even if the are escapees.
The princess was on the 'list',but i believe it was taken off?

King parrots were also on the list.

Some parrots may also be banded,which relates to the aviary they have come from.

Hmmm, I'm not sure why anyone wants to make birds captive.

I have a water bowl and and a feeder and perch attached to a tree about 10 mtrs from our pergola.

We have a daily charade/parade of crested pigeons, bar shouldered doves, wood ducks and whistlers, rainbow lorikeets, scaley breasted lorikeets, galahs, corellas, paleheaded rosellas and western rosellas and 18 rowdy, gre.gerious mischief making sulphur crested cockatoos.

Most visit twice a day and and the water and seed has to be refiilled twice a day as well.

They consume up to 15 kg of wild bird seed each week and give us hours of pleasure as we watch them from the pergola with a wine and cheese.

Much , much better than captive.

Originally Posted by ramblingboy42

Hmmm, I'm not sure why anyone wants to make birds captive..

Much , much better than captive.

Exactly,but a bird bred in an aviary does not have a a great chance of surviving in the wild,particularly if it is not in it's natural area.
It has a much better chance of survival back in an aviary.

Budgies are a good example of this,hundreds get out each year,none survive.

Sure some introduced birds survive and become pests,but here we are talking an aviary escapee,not in its normal area.

I also much prefer birds in the wild.

Originally Posted by ramblingboy42

Hmmm, I'm not sure why anyone wants to make birds captive.

I have a water bowl and and a feeder and perch attached to a tree about 10 mtrs from our pergola.

We have a daily charade/parade of crested pigeons, bar shouldered doves, wood ducks and whistlers, rainbow lorikeets, scaley breasted lorikeets, galahs, corellas, paleheaded rosellas and western rosellas and 18 rowdy, gre.gerious mischief making sulphur crested cockatoos.

Most visit twice a day and and the water and seed has to be refiilled twice a day as well.

They consume up to 15 kg of wild bird seed each week and give us hours of pleasure as we watch them from the pergola with a wine and cheese.

Much , much better than captive.

This is terrible!
It's common knowledge that feeding native animals of any kind is BAAAAD!
Shame on you!
Are Kookies, Currawongs, Pied & Grey Butchies & Maggies classed as "Native"?
Not around here they're not although we do limit their tucker to morning only & it's minimal although I'm not sure how they'd go with wine & cheese as the diet is different to parrots