Ahhh, the sound I have been waiting so long to hear again!

I have a HUGE gumtree out the front of my house. About 2.5 -3 stories high? It's a big tree! I love it, but I am an old tree lover, especially gums.   So.... Every year in spring the lorries (rainbow lorrikeets) return to breed. There are about 50,000 (literally) of them in mine & ajoining gums as there are numerous gums on our road & in the parkland opposite my house.   They pack in for the night like bees in a hive.

I used to have a hand reared one (Jaffa) as a pet. Beautiful birds!  if you like parrots, colour, loud volume, (even if it's only one! Tens of thousands of them....& you can't hear someone yelling to you in the house.) + an attitude to outdo most dogs. Jaffa used to ride my rotties around the house. They wouldn't ever stop him..  Though not big parrots, dogs only mess with them once. Their bite matches their volume.

Anyway... working in the garden today I heard one!  Yeah! They are on their way back, con! Only a day or 2 & they will all be here. I gotta get nectar feed!  Con wasn't happy... the bastards just deafen you, wreck trees & sh1t on my car!

Well, all his statements are true... but I LOVE them coming in every evening & listening to the deafening sound of all of them.

Next thing I knew, it wasn't just 1.... thousands flocked in....WE'RE BAAACK!

I even put out fruit, nectar feed & water to help them with their chicks.

Heres a couple of pics incase, so you know how beautiful they are.
They are found in 99% of Australia.



I am so happy!  Their arrival is a far better indication of summer coming that the bureau of meteorology!

When I visited Australia, I couldn't believe the sound they make! They are so colourful.

Australia has some beautiful birds.
It's probably to make up for all the other species that can murder you.

Don't you have some of those in S Africa too?

They are gorgeous birds indeed, Tracey! So glad you enjoy them.

What a pity that when beautiful bird song was given out, the parrot family was at the back of the queue. We have jays in the UK, lovely looking birds with a horrible nature and even worse voices (think screams; they were also at the back of the queue). Fortunately they don't congregate in such masses as your lorries.

I can remember, with sadness but some understanding, a film I saw many years ago of a tree next to a house in the outback of Australia where literally hundreds of wild green budgies returned to roost overnight. Presumably exasperated, the householder put some sort of explosive device under the tree and once the birds had roosted detonated it. I don't think the tree was destroyed but the budgies all fell to the ground, dead as a hammer.

They are so beautiful!

They may be messy & noisy, but they're certainly very pretty.

LyndaW wrote:

I can remember, with sadness but some understanding, a film I saw many years ago of a tree next to a house in the outback of Australia where literally hundreds of wild green budgies returned to roost overnight. Presumably exasperated, the householder put some sort of explosive device under the tree and once the birds had roosted detonated it.  I don't think the tree was destroyed but the budgies all fell to the ground, dead as a hammer.

That's awful!
Though I've not heard of this, I wouldnt put it past many of the guys (farmers) that live in the outback.