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Rosellas
Rosellas, native to Australia and nearby islands, live in forests, farmlands, woodlands, and suburban parks and gardens. They are generally confined to the coastal mountains and plains. You can also find them in New Zealand and Norfolk Island. The gorgeous Crimson Rosella is said to be the most impressive birds of this species.
Often paired or in small groups the near urban centers, you can often see the Rosellas perched on telegraph wires or roadside fences. Several color varieties of the birds subsist along the Eastern seashore and in several areas of interior Australia.
There are a few legends associated with Rosellas. One legend has it that the early settlers first found the Eastern Rosella at Rose Hill, which is today a Sydney suburb. They named it ‘Rose Hiller’, which gradually became ‘Rosella’. Another legend has it that the name of the parrot is derived from 'Rosetta', after the first name of George Fife Angas’s wife but he did not cross his T's, making them appear as lowercase ‘l’ and hence ‘Rosella’.
A rosella parrot is one of the 5 to 8 species of the colorful Australian parrots in the genus Platycercus, which means ‘broad’ or ‘flat-tailed’. Its name reflects a feature quite common to the Rosellas. They range in size 25 to 38 cms or 9.8 to 15 inches. Their diet is mainly included of seeds and fruit.
Rosella parrot have two main types of parrots—the Crimson Rosella and the Eastern Rosella.
Crimson Rosealla or Platycercus elegans is found in a large population of Eastern Australia from Cape York to Tasmania. They inhabit the forests and woodlands. You can see them mostly in the upper section of Australia from Kimberley to Queensland boundary in good numbers.
With a crimson head, neck and chest with a light white colored cheeks, the looks of Crimson parrot are perfectly exceptional. The female has a little fade in color and a bulky plumage as compared to Eastern Rosella. There is a little difference between the young and adult feather.
The diet of Crimson parrot consists principally of seeds that they can easily get from a different variety of plants. The Crimson Rosella parrots acquire their food from shrubs and grasses. They also take their food from the fruits, nuts, seeds of flowers, seeds and buds of small limbs, nectar and an assortment of bugs. Many farmers make Rosellas their pet as they eat large amounts of grain crops and orchard fruits.
Eastern Rosellas are found mostly in central and southern New South Wales across Victoria to southeast South Australia. Being 30 cm or 12 ins in height, their head, upper breast and tail coverts are red in color while cheeks are white. The lower breast yellow becomes yellowish green on the abdomen area and feathers of lower breast and abdomen have fine dark edges. Their nape, back and shoulder feathers black have attractive yellowish green edging. The female Rosella is smaller and has a dull red color. It has edging on back feathers of dull green color. There is a whitish under wing stripe on the most females.