The Australian Galah

Australian parrot known as the Galah

We have many beautiful parrots here in Australia. Most people living here would have noticed several species of parrot in their everyday lives, even if they are not birders (bird watchers). One of the most easily recognised of Australian parrots would have to be the Galah. It was once called a Rose-breasted Cockatoo, a much more poetic name than Galah, in my opinion.

Over recent weeks, the Galahs around our home and garden here in Murray Bridge, South Australia, have been going stir crazy. We usually have small flocks of 5 to 50 Galahs fly over our house every hour or so. Sometimes the flocks can range up to 500 or more birds together. That is a spectacular sight. And noisy, too.

 Frequently they will land in one or more of the trees near our house, creating quite a noisy racket. In the last few weeks, they have been behaving in an erratic way, flying around and around, squawking loudly and wheeling around in the air above our property. I am not sure what has got into them. In the past, this behaviour is common during rainy days, but we haven't had one of those in a while. Strange.

Australian parrot known as the Galah

The photos I am showing today are from another time. These shots were taken from our cabin in one of the caravan parks in Mudgee, New South Wales. We were on our way home and it was a balmy evening. My wife and I sat on the deck of the cabin enjoying a late afternoon cuppa, just before we had our dinner. I noticed a Galah in a nearby tree, lit up beautifully by the setting sun. a few moments later, the female popped her head out of a hollow in the eucalypt tree. I figured that they were nesting and the were probably preparing the hollow for their eggs.

You can read more about Galahs here, and read more about Australian birds on my other site, Trevor's Birding.

Australian parrot known as the Galah

Australian parrot known as the Galah

Australia Day

Budgerigars

Today is a special day here in Australia. It is Australia Day, our national holiday which commemorates the arrival of the First Fleet at Sydney on this day in 1788. The fleet of ships carried many British convicts and soldiers. These people made up the bulk of the first settlers in Australia. Over the coming years, many more shiploads of both convicts and free settlers came from England and other parts to settle in this new land.

Over the years since then, there have been many waves of both emigrants and free settlers from the British Isles, Ireland and many other parts of Europe. This includes my own ancestors who fled religious persecution in the 1830s and 1840s. Many of these settled in other parts of Australia, including here in South Australia.

In more recent times, we have seen many refugees come to our land. These have come from many parts of Asia as well as Africa. I count among my friends some wonderful people who have fled terrible conditions in their homelands, including war, to make Australia their new home. On Australia Day, many of these people new to Australia take on Australian citizenship.

I hope that these new people to our great land appreciate our beautiful land, our wonderful wide open spaces, our huge areas of grasslands and rolling blue mountains, as well as our amazing array of birds native to our country.

Today I will show only a small selection of this beauty to be found here in Australia.

You can see more photos of our beautiful birds, and read more about them on my other site, Trevor's Birding.

Emu

Lorikeets

Galahs

Australian Pelicans

Ku Ring Gai Wildflowers Gardens in Sydney

Laughing Kookaburra

My wife and I travel to Sydney several times a year to help look after our grandchildren, ages 8 and 5. Although they are very energetic and tire us out, we love being with them and getting to know them. On a visit last year, we took time out to go on a family picnic. One of our favourite places to visit would have to be the Ku Ring Gai Wildflower Gardens in the suburb of St Ives.

These gardens consist of two main parts: a planted garden of Australian native plants, with the rest being natural scrubland. The scrubland section is the largest part and gives the visitor a good impression of what this part of Sydney was like in its natural state, before settlement by Europeans.

The whole area is covered by walking trails which are easy to negotiate. In springtime, many of the plants are flowering. Even at other times of the year, you can find something flowering. Where there are native flowers the observant visitor will also find plenty of native birds, many of them feeding on the nectar of the flowers.

I have seen a good range of honeyeaters in these gardens, including Eastern Spinebill, Scarlet Honeyeater, Crescent Honeyeater, Yellow-faced Honeyeater, Lewin's Honeyeater and both Red and Little Wattlebirds. One can also see a range of parrots, including Galahs, several species of cockatoos and lorikeets, finches, doves and pigeons, pardalotes, thornbills, robins, swallows, fantails and scrubwrens. Australian Brush Turkeys are often seen in the picnic areas, but seeing a Superb Lyrebird is a little bit harder, but they have been seen in these gardens from time to time.

You can read more about Australian birds, and see more photos of them on my site called Trevor's Birding.

Australia Day birds

Male Emu and chicks

Today is Australia Day, a time where we celebrate the European settlement of this great land of ours. In a simple way I want to celebrate the day by showing some well-known and well-loved Australian birds.

The photos featured today include:

• Emu (above) - the male Emu hatches the eggs and cares for the chicks for up to 18 months.
• Galah (below) - probably our best known parrot, and a favourite as a pet.
• Australian Magpie (below) - a common bird in gardens, parks and in rural landscapes.
• Laughing Kookaburra (below) - the call of the Kookaburra is known throughout the land and is iconic of the Australian bush - and increasingly suburbia as well.

You can see more photos and read more about Australian birds on my other site called Trevor's Birding. 

Cosy Galahs in the morning sun

Galahs in the early morning sun

I took the photo above one very cold, frosty morning at the Laratinga Wetlands in Mt Barker, South Australia. The two parrots - presumably a breeding pair - were taking advantage of the early morning sunshine to warm up. They certainly look a cosy pair.

Earlier on I had seen them - I assume it was the same two - at a nearby hollow in the same tree. I wrote about that sighting and showed two other photos here.

The Australian parrot we know as the Galah is sometimes known as the Rose-breasted Cockatoo. It's commonly called a "cocky" and is often kept as a much loved pet, frequently living in people's homes and learning to mimic a range of human words, especially greetings. "Hello, Cocky" greets visitors to such a home, for example.

This species is also a frequent visitor to our home garden here in Murray Bridge.  On occasions we have seen flocks numbering in the many hundreds flying overhead. With their raucous screeching it is hard to miss them.

Why not take a look over at Trevor's Birding, my other site about Australian birds?

The Australian Galah

Galah

 

Many experts call Australia the Land of Parrots. There is even a DVD of the same name about our vast range of beautiful parrots. They are in abundance throughout all habitats in this country. Possibly the most recognisable of all our parrots is the Galah. They are common throughout Australia, often occurring in flocks numbering up to 1000s, especially in the cereal growing rural areas. They are also a popular pet and can be taught to say a dozen or more words.

You can see more photos of our beautiful parrots - and many other Australian birds on my other site Trevor's Birding here.

An Australian Parrot: the Galah

The beautiful Galah is one of the most recognisable of Australian parrots. It can be found in large numbers throughout most of Australia. Flocks can range from a few individuals (2-10) through to many hundreds all flying together. Their beautiful pink feathers make a spectacular sight when a flock flies overhead.

They are also a very popular pet and can be taught to speak a few words. The photos on this post were taken in my garden. They are all of wild birds.

You can read more about Australian birds here.

Photos like these can now be bought on coffee mugs and many other items such as tee-shirts, postcards and so on: click here.