Good morning feathered friends I hope you're having a wonderful day, the weather is warming up in Melbourne's West and I think Melbourne has started to remember it's summer once again. Which is great as it means more exploring and more beautiful birds coming out to play.
On yesterday's glorious bike ride we came across what we thought were sulphur crested cockatoos, that all well known sqwuak but as we got closer we realised that the birds were significantly smaller in stature. Upon investigation we identified the birds as Little Corellas also known as: Bare eyed cockatoo, blood stained cockatoo, short billed corella or little cockatoo.
Native to Australia and New Guinea Indigenous populations of Australia's west coast utilised the bird as a food source and used it's feathers to adorn clothing and in traditional ceremonies for head wear and arm bands.
The little Corella grows to 35 - 40 centre meters and weighs upto 630 grams. Breeding occurs between May - October so chances are these are the offspring of older birds further up north or west who have followed the warmer weather down south and will remain here until Feb - March.
The Little Corella works in flocks, in regional areas these can be a few thousand, thankfully not in suburbia. They have a similar social structure where there will be a few birds on the high ground in a tree watching over the flock below who are feeding and searching for grubs.
When a predator approaches the little Corellas in the tree will notify the others that a threat is apparent and everyone will be on high alert which is what is occurring in my photos.
I will upload a video to @3speak of the little corellas informing the rest of their community that lil miss 3 and I are around.