Monday, January 19, 2009

Crimson Rosella, Platycercus elegans


We stopped for the facilities in Tumut. Just as I exited the Rover, this Crimson Rosella came screaming through all a-blur with a very angry Red Wattle Bird on its tail. They very nearly slammed into me.

Now you must suffer a bit of back story, I know! I know! It sucks to be you. But here it is.

For literally hundreds of kilometres we kept seeing pairs of these birds, but only as they shot up skyward and out of sight. We 'saw' at least sixty of these birds and NONE of them would do me the very small courtesy of allowing a decent photo to be taken. The cheek! And I had special seed mix. Snobs!

This photo is a crummy shot, and the bird knew it would be! You can see that the blast furnace we call 'the sun' was fiercely illuminating the tree's canopy, but not penetrating it. And add to exposure issues, some social ones.

See, I had just boldly walked up to the base of this tree, seemingly talking to myself (in actuality, I was talking to this bird), and the couple who were picnicking at the table just two feet away from my backside were tensely patient. Probably fervently hoping I would bugger off straight away if they tried very hard to pretend they hadnt noticed me.

Well, between the birds' outright scorn, and the growing apprehension from my own species, I made my retreat to the Rover with great reluctance. Snobby birds. Frightened people. Honestly....

_______________
We had a Crimson Rosella in the backyard, back in June 2007
They havent been back, what did I do to offend them?

For more info:
Crimson Rosella at Birds in Backyards
Crimson Rosella at Wikipedia

6 comments:

BetteJo said...

I LIKE the back story! Ha! Well I guess they know playing hard to get makes them more desirable. :)

Ces Adorio said...

Well that is one smart bird who knew you will end up with a crummy shot! Hahah!

Anonymous said...

Oh, I like these Rosellas. I know them, because they are quite a famous pet here and common around pet shops by the German name "Pennantsittich". The backstories are the salt in the soup of your blog Lavender, I love them. Can really imagine how these people tried to ignore you probably thinking you are crazy talking to the trees... LOL

Lavender said...

BetteJo Ha! Well the jokes on them! Im not interested any more, Nope, nu-uh. So There Snobby Birds!!! (LOL)

Ces See! Thats the only reason he stayed there - he KNEW it wouldnt count as a picture, so he didnt even have to trouble himself to fly off.....snobs!!! :)

Areeiro Well then, you know how gorgeous they are!! Im not surprised they are popular cage birds, Ive been tempted myself - and it may well be the only way I get some good shots LOL!!!
(Thank you Areeiro!) :)

kj said...

haha, lavender, i can't help wondering what i would look like from the bottom up? maybe the bird was concerned about his image...

:)

Lavender said...

KJ LOL!! I hadnt thought of that! Oh silly bird, wish he knew he was so beautiful, instead of being self-concious ;)