Eastern Rosella

(Platycercus eximius)

Range and habitat: Common in south-eastern Australia and rare in Tasmania. Introduced into New Zealand in the North Island and around Dunedin. They can be found in parks and gardens in towns and cities and prefer pasture and lightly-timbered country.

Diet: In the wild they visit paddocks to feed on fallen grain from cereal crops. They also eat seeds from clover and scotch thistle and berries from hawthorn and pyracantha.

Zoo diet: Seed mix, fruit, vegetables and browse.

General: Breeding season is from September to January. The female incubates a clutch of up to 7 eggs, and the chicks are fed by both parents until they are ready to leave the nest for the first time at about 32 days. Young birds remain with their parents for some months. Eastern rosellas mate for life.

Habits: They usually feed on the ground in pairs or small groups, often along roadsides, and are sometimes killed by vehicles. Eastern Rosellas have benefited from land clearance and crop-growing, and in most of their range, numbers are abundant and either stable or increasing. They also feed and shelter from the midday heat in eucalyptus trees.

Flight is swift and undulating, flying high when travelling long distances.

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