Cavorting corellas

It was drizzling and windy but that didn’t stop me from hunkering down on the ground to photograph these very photogenic Long-billed Corellas.

The shutter speed of 1/2500th of a second gives an indication of how fast these stunning birds were moving as they foraged. In the portrait above you can see the corella using its bill and prehensile tongue to manipulate the bulb. I was stoked to get so much detail in this shot as it’s often tricky to maintain detail in whites.

The interactions between them were so quick and with such a long lens it was hard to be pointing the camera in the right direction when the action happened. The squabble lasted less than a second and the onlooker made me smile too.

Long-billed Corellas have a short crest which isn’t always visible. Males and females are alike though the males may be slightly larger. The bird above fluffed up its feathers, perhaps (like me) it was trying to keep warm!

As they were digging for bulbs they probed frenetically into the soil, going down so far I’m surprised they never get their bills trapped.

They didn’t often forage so closely together but maybe these two are a committed couple. Long-billed Corellas form strong monogamous bonds and share the work of nest-building, incubating and feeding their offspring.

It took ages to get a shot of one with a bill full of oxalis. This plant is a weed that is often known as soursob. It’s a difficult weed to eradicate as when its pulled out it leaves tiny bulbs behind ready to re-sprout. I’ve been battling a patch of it at my place and would welcome these comical characters to help out by eating the tiny bulbs.

Happy birding, Kim

~ Facebook page Kim Wormald – lirralirra – 10K+ followers
~ Facebook group  Ethical Bird Photography
~ Etsy – Kim Wormald lirralirra
~ Browse prints and gifts Lirralirra Shop or contact me directly