Rainbow Lorikeets

It is no wonder that when the 1500s Portuguese explorers, mapping the coasts of Australia, named it Psittacorum regio, the Latin for 'Reign of parrots'. When I first come to Australia I was astonished to see how easily parrots can be seen in any environment, city included in great numbers. In this period of the year, southern hemisphere spring, trees are blooming very generously and lorikeets are very busy taking the best advantage out of this great food opportunity. The Rainbow Lorikeet is probably the most common Lorikeet in Australia, an icon from Darwin to Adelaide. They are also frequent visitors of bird feeders, but they are bold and aggressive to other species chasing every other bird away, this is in fact one of the reasons for the decline of some other bird species where Rainbow Lorikeets are numerous.  Their screeching calls are filling the air, sometimes harsh, sometimes full of joy, to see them darting in the sky is always a pleasure.

 

For the Italian readers, or anybody who reads Italian, I started writing for a website called 'I love Australia', written and managed by Italians in Australia, a website whose goal is to give information about anything related to this country, from immigration to nature, travel and holiday and more: http://www.iloveaustralia.it/