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Help eastern rosellas feel more at home in your neighbourhood
Visitors from overseas are often amazed to find eastern rosellas in Australia's cities.
That's right! Thankfully, these brightly coloured parrots are still found in our urban areas. They eat various types of seed, berries, blossoms and nectar.
 If you're lucky, you will find eastern rosellas on the ground, in pairs or
small groups. Many people enjoy hearing them chatter as they feed on fallen
seeds. They are not timid, and often allow people to approach close enough
to admire their beautiful feathers.
When they move to the treetops, rosellas have a different
song - a pretty metallic piping sound.
They nest in hollow branches on dead or living gum trees.
Nests have also been found in holes in rotting logs lying on the ground.
But the loss of old trees is now creating a shortage of homes for these
birds.
How you can make your neighbourhood friendlier for eastern rosellas
 If
we do a few simple things locally, our gardens and parks can be a safe
place for eastern rosellas and provide them with the food they need.
It's easy. All you have to do is keep an eye out for
rosellas and take a few simple steps. Step one is to find out what eastern
rosellas like.
What eastern rosellas like
Eastern rosellas love:
- Native
grasses and shrubs – they search the ground for fallen seeds,
and eat from seed pods in low shrub.
-
Native trees - they move through the treetops to gather a variety of
seeds.
-
Safe parks and gardens – where cats and dogs will not chase or
attack them as they feed.
-
Hollow branches – which provide safe and secure nesting sites,
beyond the reach of predators.
Be a buddy to the eastern rosella
Try to:
- Watch for rosellas in flight or feeding on the ground.
- Keep cats and dogs away from areas in your backyard and in parks where
rosellas feed during the day.
- Organise your garden over time so that there is a variety of native
grasses, bushes and shrubs with seeds for the birds to feed on.
- Preserve mature trees in the area that have hollows for the birds to
use for nesting.
Avoid:
- Removing seed heads, especially from native grasses if rosellas are
using the area to feed.
- Tidying dead branches from trees if there is no safety risk.
- Removing fallen branches from the ground if there is no fire issue.
Don't be surprised if:
- You start to notice pairs or groups of rosellas feeding together, close by people.
A few more eastern rosella facts
- They are also known as the rosella, white-cheeked rosella or rosella parakeet.
- They mainly eat seeds but will also eat berries, blossoms, nectar, fruit
and insects.
- Their flight is 'undulating' and close to the ground, and they glide upward
into trees, fanning their tails as they land.
- Their heads and necks are bright red, their cheeks are white. Feathers on
their backs and wings are black, edged with bright yellow-green or yellow.
Their flight feathers are blue.
- Males and females appear similar but males are brighter on the head and breast
than females.
- Many people recognise rosellas as the symbol on sauce bottles and soup cans
in kitchens around Australia.
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animals in the wild.
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