Juvenile Crimson Rosella in Hazelgrove, NSW
A group of four young Crimson Rosellas gathered around a cabin that I was staying in this weekend, in the region of Hazelgrove. That’s west of the Blue Mountains, about three hours’ drive from Sydney.
At first, it was difficult to identify the birds. Other Crimson Rosellas that I’ve seen are red and blue, like the one in my earlier post. After some research, I discovered that the juvenile birds are mostly green instead of red, though they do have the characteristic red and blue markings on their heads.
Here are two of the birds that I saw this weekend:
They were posing nicely on a rusty shed roof, for maximum warmth of colour!
Common name: Crimson Rosella
Scientific name: Platycercus elegans elegans
Approximate length: 35 cm
Date spotted: 15 April 2023 (autumn)
Approximate location: Hazelgrove, New South Wales, Australia (map)
Posted on 2023/04/17, in Birds, Parrot, Rosella and tagged australia, birds, birdwatching, crimson rosella, parrots. Bookmark the permalink. 2 Comments.
Sydney Birder 
beautiful! And so informative, thank you. I live in suburban Melbourne and feed sulphur crested cockatoos, rosellas, noisy mynahs, pigeons, and shy currawongs on my deck. Theres a new ‘corella’ group coming to feed this week…i cant find the name… they have a beautiful salmon pink ‘necklace’ and the same pink stripe above their eyes. Any clue as to name?
Hallo Les
Those sound lovely! I can’t think of any corella matching that description. I wonder if they’re genetically bred or non-Australian birds, escaped from somewhere. Or could they be rosellas rather than corellas (mostly green rather than mostly white)? In that case, could they be Swift Parrots (endangered, a good find!) or Little Lorikeets?
The Australian Birds group on Reddit is a great place to ask for bird identification: https://www.reddit.com/r/AustralianBirds/
If you find out more, let me know!
Cheers
Sarah