When we first moved to the Ryde area a dozen or so years ago, Rainbow Lorikeets and Scaly-breasted Lorikeets regularly visited the backyard in roughly equal numbers.
But for the last 9 or 10 years, the Scaly-breasteds have been totally absent. Brad was beginning to despair of ever seeing one again, but Amanda tracked them down via another blog to a leafy suburban park at Lugarno in Sydney’s South West.
In flight, they can be easily mistaken for Rainbow Lorikeets – they are pretty much the same shape, and their emerald green colour is a close match for the green of the Rainbow. However, they are slightly smaller than a Rainbow, and have none of the Rainbow’s other colouration, being essentially green all over with yellow, scalloped feathering on their fronts – reminiscent of scales. Their underwings are a red/orange with grey trailing edges.
As they once did in our backyard, they will often flock with Rainbow Lorikeets when the nectar is plentiful, and will fight their corner against the bigger birds.
H.V. Evatt Memorial Park at Lugarno has a dam, a small creek, and an adjoining forested walk along Salt Pan Creek, and the gardens around the perimeter of the playing fields are home to many birds – including the Scalies you see here.
We were fortunate to bump into a local wildlife lover and photographer, Megan, who let us know about the Park’s Community Group which promotes and advocates for the wildlife and habitat in the Park and surrounding areas. The Group’s Facebook page is regularly updated with great photos.
https://www.facebook.com/HV-Evatt-Park-Community-110749037457843
These two lovers were canoodling in a deeply shady tree in fading afternoon light – a bad pic, but too cute not to include:
Bramandagram 