Pale Headed Rosella Nesting

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Woko
Woko's picture

What a marvelous contribution, Brian. With nesting hollows being destroyed at a fast clip bird species which depend on them need all the help they can get. 

DaveF
DaveF's picture

Not trying to hijack the thread but I'd like to add my experience with these beautiful birds.

Some 12 months ago I placed a nest box high up in the eaves at the back of the house. It took a while but eventually a pair of pale headeds began to visit more and more often to the point where at this point in time one bird (presumably the female) spends most of the day inside the box. The other bird visits maybe 4 or 5 times a day and they fly off together. 

What is perplexing is that for the last two or three days, almost right on dusk the male arrives and they fly off together. Try as I might I cannot see if the female comes back but unless they fly at night, the nest is empty overnight.

Has anyone seen this behaviour in their own locale? Surely if she has laid anything the egg(s) wouldn't cope with the lack of warmth overnight? I would assume that the breeding imperative would be paramount but maybe as first timers......?

Woko
Woko's picture

You can be justifiably proud of your achievement, Brian. With so many of our old growth trees & their hollows being destroyed  birds which require hollows for their breeding need all the help they can get. 

It seems the Pale-headed Rosellas in your area feel quite secure in using your nest boxes. Nice.

DaveF
DaveF's picture

From our observations I am confident that our resident PHR has hatchlings, or very near so. Over the last couple of days the male has arrived three or four times a day and the female is away for no more than 10 minutes at a time, flying back into the nest box directly, wasting no time in entering.

Fingers crossed that we see the results at some stage and that they don't fly off while we're at work! The local butcher birds and kookaburras are also vitally interested:

Woko
Woko's picture

A healthy biodiversity should enable the Pale-headed Rosellas to sustain their population notwithstanding any predations from Kookaburras & Butcherbirds.

DaveF
DaveF's picture

So far so good, here she is keeping an eye on our dogs in the back yard. The nest box is effectively 3 stories off the ground but they're still wary.

bacdj@bigpond.net.au
Brian Desjardins's picture

Sorry not to have commented on the recent threads DaveF, I have been otherwise occupied.  Hope you have a similar success to us and am confident you will. 

About 2 hours ago our first rosie for the spring 2017 season fledged.  This September mother rosie laid 4 eggs and hatched 4 babies.  We still have 3 in the nest, but we expect them to be gone by tomorrow afternoon judging on past performances.  I saw the first egg on 4/8/17 and then first saw the babies (probably a couple of days old) on 1/9/17 and first baby fledged 28/9/17.

That is 27 fledged rosies we have helped in to the local enviroment since September 2013. I will choose a nice red for happy hour for the proud defacto grandparents.    Brian DJ

Woko
Woko's picture

Well done, Brian & Pale-headed Rosellas! I trust that elsewhere in the local environment people are restoring habitat for the new Rosellas so that existing habitat isn't over-taxed.

It seems your Pale-headed Rosellas haven't been disturbed by people looking in the nest box to count the eggs & hatchlings.

During breeding season I'm tending to avoid anywhere that looks like a breeding place for birds to  minimise nest abandonment - except in the case of Blackbirds, Starlings, House Sparrows, Feral Pigeons & Spotted Turtle Doves, of course!

bacdj@bigpond.net.au
Brian Desjardins's picture

Our rosie breeders appear to trust us and though I do look in to the nest several times during breeding times to check how many, stage of development, etc., it has never been a problem, but I am careful to only do it just after I see the parents leave so they don't see me. 

All 4 rosie babies now fledged, last  one yesterday.  We saw 2 of the 4 babies fly away and am amazed just how well they fly on their first flight, nature is marvellous, there must be some great school lessons in that box from hatching to fledging. 

While we don't see any extra rosies in our area since they started breeding at our house (young obviously taught that this is current breeders area and young must go elsewhere) other people in the estate comment that they have noticed more rosies around their area and we are also lucky that there is plenty of bush in our area.  Wish I could attach a transmitter to each new baby rosie so I knew how many are still around.  Brian DJ

DaveF
DaveF's picture

Thats awesone Brian, I only hope that my pair are as productive! My box needs a tall extension ladder to get close to, I curse that I didn't make plans for a webcam of something so I can see what is going on inside. After the season is over this year I'm going to see what I can arrange.

Lots of movement noise from inside today, so I hope that it's juveniles, not just the female cleaning house so to speak.

bacdj@bigpond.net.au
Brian Desjardins's picture

Just updating my Rosie thread.  Since my last thread our second female breeding Rosie has died, it was taken by a Peregrine Falcon when she was sitting on the back pool fence near our nesting/feeder setup.  The Male Rosie has since mated up with another female (looks young) and she laid one egg on about 22/4/18, but did not sit on the egg, so I eventually removed it from the nest.  In late July she again started laying eggs and had laid 5 eggs by the 7/8/18, but only hatched 2 on about  30/08/2018 and they fledged this morning 26/09/18, so that is 29 in total from our nest box since 2013.   Brian DJ 

bacdj@bigpond.net.au
Brian Desjardins's picture

Further updating to my Rosie thread.  After the two fledglings left 26/09/18 we noticed that both the male and female rosie were spending a lot more time in/near the nest box than they have ever done previously just after the last babies fledged.  Anyway on 03/10/18 I had a look in the nest box and saw that there was a new egg in there and a check yesterday on 10/10/18 revealed there were now 4 new eggs.  This has never happened previously, perhaps because they only fledged 2 out of 5 or perhaps because the local population has dwindled for some reason they are desparate to increase the stocks.  Nature is marvellous BUT also confusing and intriguing.  Brian DJ. 

Woko
Woko's picture

Looks like there might be rain on the way if not already occurring. Rain = productivity of insects, seed etc = increased breeding. 

bacdj@bigpond.net.au
Brian Desjardins's picture

I have another batch of Rosies about to fledge.  There were 5 eggs and 4 hatched.  They are due to  fledge  and last night we heard a loud noise outside on our back deck as if something fell, so I went out to investigate, but could not find anything.

Just after lunch today my wife saw what she thought was a blue tongue lizard on our back deck and when I went to investigate I found a largish sand goanna climbing up the bricks towards the Rosie nest box and nearly had his head in the entry.  I had a shovel in my hand, so I gave him a poke and he fell to the ground and took off through my garden.

Then I had to find a fix for my latest Rosie problem and here it is.  Photo Attached.  Luckily I had a reject plastic caravan window in my ceiling and some aluminum angle, so here I HOPE is my fix, but nature is very inventive.  I will also remove the feed house to further reduce the risk.    That is now 33 little Rosies fledged from our nest box and hopefully one did not fledge in the belly of the sand goanna.  .  Brian DJ

timmo
timmo's picture

Awesome work, Brian!

Sounds like you're single-handedly repopulating PHRs in your area :)

Cheers
Tim
Brisbane

bacdj@bigpond.net.au
Brian Desjardins's picture

2019 Update:  2019 has been a very different year for our rosie family.  We think the female was taken by an eagle while sitting on the fence while the male was feeding, she is normally not allowed to eat with him, chauvinist!  The replacement female appeared young, but the pair kept arriving and a few times throughout the year it was obvious that the male was trying to get the female to set up a nest, but she did not want to do that and while she entered the box a few times there were no eggs laid.  In early September the female did start to make a nest and laid a couple of eggs.  Then another rosie pair arrived and there were very severe fights between the rosies, mainly the females and to our surprise the new female took over the nest and started adding to the egg numbers.  As flighty as the rosies are when they are fighting I go out to try and stop the  fighting and they don't even care about me, they just keep fighting.  On about 21 September the 5th egg was laid.  This 2nd female rosie is very protective of her nest and squakes and pecks at the entry if you go near it, by far the most aggressive and unfrightened rosie we have seen.  Strangly the old rosie pair still come back several times a day and the male goes up to the nest entry, but is not game to go in and the female just sits on the fence.   It appears the the new female is sitting on all 5 eggs even though I am sure about 2 are not really hers.  She leaves the nest a couple of times a day with her partner, but she is only away for a few minutes, I guess to eat and drink etc and then returns, which gives me just enough time to take a quick video through the entry hole to check on the nest.  I will update again when the new birds fledge.  Brian DJ

Woko
Woko's picture

Most interesting. This sort of long term (longitudinal) study can often reveal all sorts of unknown information. Nice work again, Brian. 

Alex Rogers
Alex Rogers's picture

I love this thread, thanks for posting Brian. I'm inspired to consider building and putting out nest boxes myself - need to do some research into what would be best around here (sydney suburbs)

Cathy.hawes@big...
Catherine Hawes's picture

We have a nest box on our deck some metres off the ground. Last year a pair of pale headed laid two clutches but nothing eventuated. We later opened the box and removed the eggs.

this year, the same pair have laid again but weeks have passed and no sounds of chicks.

It appears that the eggs are not fertile.

do you know of any reason for this.

Our birds are not in the least concerned about us going onto the deck, they just ignore us.

thanks,

Cathy

Lindas2704
Lindas2704's picture

Brian I was so excited to stumble across this forum. We have just had a pair of Eastern Rosellas start to nest in the box we have just put up. I have thoroughly enjoyed reading your updates and hope I will have the same success as you have over the years. I was just wondering if you put anything in the bottom of your box. We put finely mulched bark in ours about 3 inches deep, but I think there may be too much lifting the chicks too high to the opening and easy pickings for the kookaburras and kurrawongs. Thanks Linda

bacdj@bigpond.net.au
Brian Desjardins's picture

I am looking for some advice concerning installation of a remote video camera.  I won't go in to great detail because it is all in the thread, but I built a bird nesting box on our back deck for some Eastern Rosellas to use and after a lot of coaxing/encouraging it worked and since I built it nearly 10 years ago I have bred 37 young parrots and saw many of them take their maiden flight. 

When nesting I wait for the  parents to leave the nest and then quickly go out and take a photo in through the entry hole to keep check on their numbers / health etc.  This has worked perfectly for the past 8 years, but I now have a new pair or at least a new female over the past year or so and while she lays heaps of eggs, she either doesn't hatch them or hatches some, but do not raise them to fledging stage.  While I can't see a reason for this bad parenting apart from immature new mother Rosie, one of my thoughts is that she might get spooked by my visits to the nest while they are away feeding during the time they are raising the chicks in the nest.

Has anyone got any information about how or if I could install a remote camera through the ceiling in through the top of the nest box, that perhaps I could view/record via bluetooth etc on the iphone.  I don't want it on all the time, but just for me to check on the number of eggs and hatchlings etc. and that way I could negate my other problem theory of looking in when they are away and perhaps even being caught up there.  I know I could just ignore them, but after all the planning and organizing I have done to get to this stage I think grand-dad should be entitled to keep check.   Brian DJ

Woko
Woko's picture

Woko
Woko's picture

Hi there Brian. You're obviously getting a lot of satisfaction & enjoyment from watching up close the breeding of the Eastern Rosellas. 

We humans are very much inclined to consider ourselves above & beyond all other species on Earth rather than as one of the myriad forms of life which inhabit our planet. In many ways I suppose we are considering what we've achieved since we climbed from whatever we climed from all those aeons ago. However, the other side of this evolutionary coin is that our hubris has put Earth & its creatures, including humans, in grave danger due to our aggressive exploitation of Earth's resources. We seem to be the only species on the planet which is intent on achieving extinction for ourselves & many other species of plants & animals. 

This is a long way of encouraging you to reflect on your motive or motives for your interesting project. Your building of nest boxes is almost certainly beneficial for the Easter Rosellas given that we humans have a passion for destroying nesting places for a huge range of animals. However, I wonder if you've given thought to your motive or motives for wanting to install a camera & peek into the nest. Is it to benefit the Eastern Rosellas & the part they play in the ecology? Is it to satisfy your curiosity &, perhaps, your sense of entitlement which you mention? Or are you collecting data which can be used to benefit the Rosellas? If you can achieve all these things then it's win - win all round. If some part of your intervention in the breeding of the Eastern Rosellas causes losses of young ones or some other damage to the species then the gains are less than they could otherwise be, I suggest. 

bacdj@bigpond.net.au
Brian Desjardins's picture

Thanks Woko for you reply.  My sole purpose of inserting a camera is to keep track of my project which I have been doing for some 8 years now and with no problems until this last year.  My inquiry was to find a reason for the poor parenting skills of this new female rosie and if it normal for new mothers to be imperfect in their duties in the first year or so or could there be another reason.  As I said I have been doing identical things for the past 8 years and all has gone to plan and I have help raise 37 new rosies and all I want to know is if there is some suitable camera I could use to check on the babies without causing a problem.  I also want to know if there are dead babies in the nest so I can clean it out if I have to. If anyone can help me with my inquiry I would welcome some advice or it may be that I have to ask the question elsewhere.  Brian DJ  

bacdj@bigpond.net.au
Brian Desjardins's picture

Thanks Woko for you reply.  My sole purpose of inserting a camera is to keep track of my project which I have been doing for some 8 years now and with no problems until this last year.  My inquiry was to find a reason for the poor parenting skills of this new female rosie and if it normal for new mothers to be imperfect in their duties in the first year or so or could there be another reason.  As I said I have been doing identical things for the past 8 years and all has gone to plan and I have help raise 37 new rosies and all I want to know is if there is some suitable camera I could use to check on the babies without causing a problem.  I also want to know if there are dead babies in the nest so I can clean it out if I have to. If anyone can help me with my inquiry I would welcome some advice or it may be that I have to ask the question elsewhere.  Brian DJ  

Woko
Woko's picture

Hi Brian. I wonder if your next step is to contact a bird researcher at the Department of Environment or whatever it's called in the state you live in. If the bird researcher isn't able to help you directly he/she may be able to point you in the direction of someone who can. Universities sometimes have these sort of researchers. Bird researchers are often pointing cameras into nests & may well know how to do it with a minimum of interference.

bacdj@bigpond.net.au
Brian Desjardins's picture

2021 Update:  This is the new parents second year of breeding and after a disastrous 2020 year where they laid 8 eggs in two separate batches and all died this year our Pale Headed Rosellas have successfully bred another 4 Pale Headed Rosellas and they have all fledged in the past week.  Sadly we found the last rosella to fledge on the ground outside our fence as we returned from our morning walk, but he/she was deformed with no eyes and other deformities,  so I had a very sad task to perform.  This is the  first deformed baby rosella of 41 hatched birds since 2013, so I guess I should be satisfied, but it was a very sad day for me.    Hopefully a more positive year in 2022.   Brian DJ

dwatsonbb
dwatsonbb's picture

Sorry to hear that Brian, I guess that is nature. Thank you for "taking care" of the little one. Hopefully things will set themselves right again from now on.

Dale Huonville, Tasmania

bacdj@bigpond.net.au
Brian Desjardins's picture

More sad news for the start of 2022.  Our latest breeding pair has been reduced to one, the female.  My suspicin is that an eagle/hawk/falcon has taken the male part of the pair.  We have a few eagle/hawk/falcons frequenting our area of late and have seen them diving  down in to the trees, which I would suspect is attacking other birds for their food..  I know a local person who used to work in DPI in birds section and he informed me that this time of the year we get visited by 'Penegrine Falcons' whose food is other birds.  While we only have house visits from the breeding pair throughout the year we also see other pale face rosellas in the trees of nearby park area and there is often 6 or more, but now we are down to 3 birds with the female breeder the only one that visits our house feeding tray.  I kope that the remaining female is able to connect with another male and breed us some more birds next season.  Brian DJ

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