The Western Rosella & The Twenty Eight.

While out today I managed to spot these two gorgeous native Western Australian Birds. Lucky I had my camera with me.

The Western Rosella (Platycercus Icterotis)

The Western Rosella is the smallest rosella and is usually seen in pairs or small parties. However, it is quiet and easily overlooked. The head neck and under body of males are mostly red, while those of females and juveniles are mottled red. The cheek patch is yellow or cream. The two subspecies may interbreed, with varying colour on the back. The flight is light and fluttery and less undulating than in other rosella species. This species is also known as the Yellow-cheeked or Stanley Rosella. Western Rosellas may damage fruit in orchards and were earlier killed as vermin. They are now protected from destruction, except with a special licence. They are possibly declining in the wheat belt from loss of woodland.

Twenty Eight Parrot (Australian Ringneck) (Barnardius Zonarius Psittacidae)

There are several different forms of the Australian Ringneck across its range and each appears slightly different, but they all have one feature in common — a yellow collar which stretches across the bird’s hind neck. Aside from appearing different from one another, birds of the different populations also sound different, with pronounced regional variation. For example, the subspecies in Western Australia is often referred to as the ‘Twenty-eight Parrot’ because its contact call is usually rendered as twenty-eight, with the call (and the name) is unknown in other parts of Australia.