This is a continuation of my thread about the galahs.
They are still coming round, though not as often. I’m seeing them about once a week or so (though under our new lockdown I’ll be keeping a closer eye). During those first weeks, when they were around much of the time, battles with other birds were common. Conflict still erupts – they chased off a cockatoo this morning – but this period has seen more diverse interactions with other birds.
The point of this post is largely the photo at the top. Despite its manifest and manifold faults, it’s one of my favorite images from this time. On a couple of days including this one, the site seemed to erupt or flower with birds for no clear reason. And on these days, though cockatoos are always unwelcome, everyone else seemed to get along fine.
In the image above, we have the two galahs plus two other species, regulars in the area. On the lower left branch is an immature crimson rosella. When I first saw these, with quite different colors from the adults, I wondered about hybridization of some kind, but the web suggests these are first-year colors, or something like that, and normal for the species. (This site has some good photos.)
Here is an adult, with full crimson in afternoon light.
The other bird, on the top left branch, is a red wattlebird, I think – red for the patch on the cheeks/neck, despite the yellow breast. They are around continually, very active. Busybodies. Though they’re reputedly aggressive to other birds, I’ve not seen them challenge the galahs.
The immature rosella was part of a pair. A magpie also hung around for a while.
And after the visits had subsided, the galahs got back to work on their nest.
Another photo of the initial scene, with rosella and wattlebird:
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Notes
Crimson rosella: Platycercus elegans
Red wattlebird: Anthochaera carunculata