Welcome to 2024! Happy new year!! I hope it is another year filled with beautiful birds for you (and me!). Thank you for buying a Bird’s-eye view calendar and for following along with my stories. I’m so glad you’re here to take the journey with me.
We start the year with our January pinup – the colourful Australian king parrot. This king parrot lives at Kobble Creek in the Moreton Bay region. I stayed there in April last year and there were king parrots everywhere, posing beautifully – hence I didn’t have to work too hard for the photo.
The stunning bird on your calendar is a male king parrot given his red head. Females are green and so are juveniles to begin with. I recently discovered a great resource by the Australian Bird Studies Association called “Bird in the Hand”. It contains identification sheets which are free to look at. You can see the differences between males, females, and juveniles, here.
Once mainly seen in woodlands and forests, king parrots now often frequent back yards and gardens. These birds feast on the berries in our Lilly pilly and grumichama trees. They also have a fondness for sunflower seeds and cherry tomatoes. I’ve shared stories of our naughty king parrots before so I won’t do so again, other than to remind you to keep your tomatoes covered!!
Another mention for January is that I’m having a little sale over on my Etsy shop, including most of my king parrot merchandise.
I hope you have a wonderful January and are safe and dry in the intense weather.
See you next month!