Taken in our garden in Fennell Bay, NSW, September 2007. We get lots of Little Corellas visiting us all year round (pretty much every day), and Galahs slightly less frequently and in fewer numbers, but this was the first and only time we've seen this particular specimen.
The photos aren't great, and they don't show how strong the pink colouring was on the front and face. It was really quite pronounced.
Many thanks Denis, and to your COG correspondent too for such a detailed reply. It's good to have our suspicions confirmed about this interesting sighting. Cheers!
Hi,
I maintain a website dedicated to examining the evidence for rare Australian fauna. Birds rarely receive a mention so I thought I would share this news too: http://wherelightmeetsdark.com/index.php?module=newswatch&NW_user_op=view&NW_id=392
Questions that come to my mind are: is this bird expected to be sterile? If not, then what could be expected if two similar hybrids managed to locate each other and breed? Would this be a new mechanism for creating a new species? And what scientific name would you ascribe to either the hybrid, or the offspring of two such hybrids breeding?
Cheers,
Chris.
PS - I ment to mention that I've included one photo on my website, with links back here. It is credited to "Mike" - I am happy to give a more specific name if you like.
Chris.
Thanks, Chris. It seems like this little fellow is turning into a bit of a celebrity. I had a hunt through my archives and found two more photos of him/her, and it turns out they were taken on a different day from the three I've already uploaded! I could have sworn we only saw this bird once. Guess I was wrong. According to the EXIF data in them, these two photos were taken on 9th August last year, again in our back garden.
I agree - it's almost certainly the same bird: in the third photo on this post you can see two patches of grey on its shoulders - the highest grey marks on its back. In the fifth (last) photo you can see these again.
Photos 2 and 5 seem to show identical colouration on the ventral surface of the tail feathers (i.e. solid grey with a white edge)
I'm thinking you'll be seeing this bird again :)
Chris.
I live in Denistone NSW near Darvall Park. Flocks of long-billed and little corellas roost nearby, and I sometimes see small flocks of pink galahs. Sev eral times I have seen what appears to be a little corella/galah hybrid feeding with little corellas (but never with the galahs). Yesterday I photographed one such bird in our garden, again in company with little corellas. My digital camera has only a short optical zoom (3x)but the pale pink and grey colouring is quite clear, as is the pale blue 'eye-ring'. When the bird took flight, I noticed that the pink colouring on the underwings was quite a lot darker than on the head and chest. I could upload the photo if I knew how...
Sounds great! Can you work out how to upload images here? (I haven't done it myself, but it sounds like some people struggle...)
Posting photos.
This has been discussed many times before.
Pls refer to this post by Noisy Major, and then the link to Gelmir's tutorial.
http://www.birdsinbackyards.net/forum/messages.cfm?threadid=0D28872D-BD77-C218-7FB35680281A8A9B
You need to have first uploaded your photos to a photo-hosting site. You cannot post photos directly on this site, unfortunately.
Cheers
Denis
Denis Wilson
www.peonyden.blogspot.com
Thanks Denis.
For those that haven't uploaded photos to the web themselves before, can I recommend redbubble.com?
They have a great user community and if you're lucky, someone might even purchase a print of your photo and you'll score a dollar or two.
My gallery (which has wildlife, but not birds) is at http://www.redbubble.com/people/wlmd so you can see what it's about.
If you do decide to sign up, I'd be delighted if you listed me as referring you. My username there is 'wlmd'
Cheers,
Chris.
Actually - there *is* one bird there. It's on my head in the photo of me on my profile :D
Thanks for information on posting photos - I thought there's be instructions somewhere but couldn't readily find them on the site.
not to sure if my pic link will work but sure one of the hybrids just outside getting into some seed. I live in NSW near newcastle