In November, Possums moved into our parrot box. It didn’t really matter that it was possums rather than parrots, I was happy as long as some local fauna was making use of all that hard (okay, easy) work. The possums were of the ringtail variety. They apparently keep multiple homes and move around quite a bit. Well, now It looks like they’ve moved on because some rainbow lorikeets are moving in.
Rainbow Lorikeets Grooming
This pair keep coming by and sitting there grooming, or is it cuddling, and they take turns peeking inside. I’ve never seen either enter the box but they’ve clearly claimed it as their own. The come back multiple times each day and spend some time just hanging out.
Rainbow Lorikeets at a Nest Box
Finally, our parrot nest box is really a parrot nest box!
Laura Rittenhouse's Gardening Journal 
Hi Laura,
You’ll have to watch these fellows. They are colourful, clever, funny, they are also great on photos but when they move into an area they tend to displace other parrots.
Rainbow Lorikeets gather into aggressive gangs that drive other species from their shared feeding places. Other, sometimes much larger parrots are terrified of their very sharp beaks and group aggression; we are finding it difficult here to maintain the original populations of Crimson Rosellas and King Parrots under their attack.
It’s way too late for that warning – Rainbow Lorikeets rule the neighbourhood! Living under 1 k from the nearest skyscraper and major road means this is pretty much city living and Lorikeets don’t seem to mind that. In fact, there are flocks of them roosting every night in the trees lining the city streets. Yet we still get King Parrots and Crimson Rosellas and Cockatoos in our garden, eating our sunflowers and cumquats and our neighbours’ palms – all in much smaller numbers than Lorikeets, but as they’re all native to the area, I guess it’s survival of the fittest (or most adaptable and aggressive).
Reading the comments above I wonder if the possums knew the rainbow lorikeets were coming and moved out! Beautiful photos – you’re lucky to have such a fantastic garden!
Maybe the parrots keep peeking in at the possums until they move out – terror tactics in the gum trees 🙂
Gorilla warfare in the gum trees! Love it! 🙂
:-))
In Colorado our zoo has a section of Lorikeets and people can pay to go in and feed them. It is funny to think that this bird that we see as exotic and special is your backyard tenant. I wonder what your zoo has that we would find as “every day backyard wildlife.”
How about bears! Exotic AND terrifying.
Fantastic, Laura! So wonderful to watch the wildlife from the comfort of your own home.
I was thrilled to finally have a bird house which quickly had babies chirping away inside. To my major horror, I stepped out onto the porch recently in time to see a snake slither in the last bit of its body. Mommy and daddy birds were SCREAMING! It was horrific. (nature is not always so pretty…)
I read online that other birds will not come around when they smell that a snake has been there. I couldn’t bring myself to clean out the birdhouse or to move it so I thought I’d wait until my nerves settled (next hatching season?). But, alas, another mother moved in. I saw her pushing the old nest out and I haven’t even moved it yet!!! I’m so concerned. That snake will be back!
Guess your birds are too large to worry about snakes? Hopefully.
By the way, you take such great photos! Thanks for sharing.
We have a lot of snakes in Australia – and poisonous ones, and pythons that eat everything (including chickens and chicken eggs given the chance). But that nest box is way, way up in the tree and I hope safe. Actually, though there are snakes in this area, I’ve never seen one in my back garden so I hope all my other critters are safe. It’s the cats that kill most of the fauna here – and cars, of course. Not to mention idiots cutting down trees or branches during breeding season.
On the farm, it’s a different story. One of the locals there says he’s seen a black snake on our property and won’t let his dog out of the car. Others have told us about brown snakes and the red bellies. I need to study up because one man told us one of the snakes keeps the others away so not to kill that one. Oh dear!
Oh, dear is right. And the one we have that ate the babies is black – about 5 1/2 feet long – and not dangerous…. (to whom???). Climbed a tree and reached over to get to the birdhouse. Absolutely gross.
I, too, hope your babies are safe!
HORRORS!
I have fed Rainbow Lorikeets with the grandchildren in an enclosure at a zoo. It is so amazing to have them in your garden.
Rainbow Lorikeets are very easy to “tame”. All you need to do is set out an apple every now and then and your back porch becomes part of their regular daily scavenge. And they don’t mind hopping on you hand or head (ouch) while eating. They are perfect for zoos and grandchildren, even better for a back yard! And yes, it is amazing to see animals like this living naturally in my garden.
Your home is a definite wildlife refuge, and it sounds as though the farm will be like that too!
I hope so. I am a real sucker for native fauna – especially when it’s so colourful!
such amazing birds. x
Aren’t they just! Why didn’t nature do that with mammals? My brown hair with striking splashes of grey 🙂 is looking particularly boring next to these birds.
yes I guess you’d best not dye it green! xxxx
Green with red and blue streaks 🙂
that would give the neighbours something to talk about! xxxx
🙂