Blue Bonnet Parrots

Earlier this week I drove to Loxton in the Riverland region of South Australia to attend a funeral. Loxton is almost exactly 2 hours drive from here in Murray Bridge. It was like going home because I grew up on a farm in the Loxton district and went to high school there.

The road to Loxton traverses a large portion of the farming area known as the Murray Mallee. This name is derived from the Murray River meandering along to the north and the predominant plant species of the area, the various forms of shrubby eucalypt trees known as mallee trees. Many mallee trees line the roadside verges, along with melaleuca bushes and a wide variety of smaller shrubs and bushes.

At one point alone the road I was delighted to see a pair of Blue Bonnet Parrots fly across the road in front of the car. As I was travelling at about 100kph at the time I couldn’t stop to get a photo. I fact, I do not have a photo of this species in my collection.

Blue Bonnet Parrots

This colourful parrot species has a wide distribution in the drier regions of northern Victoria, western New South Wales and the mallee areas of South Australia and Western Australia. It is common in some areas within its range but in my experience it is uncommon but widespread in most of its range.

Habitat:

The preferred habitat of this species includes open woodland, open mallee, native cypress pines, mulga, acacia and open grasslands.

The bird in captivity:

The Blue Bonnet is a popular cage bird and three subspecies are kept in captivity. The most common is the Yellow Vented Blue Bonnet. Both the Red Vented Blue Bonnet and the Narethra Blue Bonnet are rare in captivity.

Links:

• The see several beautiful photos of this lovely species click here.
• Mallee trees - for more information about mallee trees read this article.