Three subspecies of eastern rosella are recognised: P. e. eximius, Victoria and southern New South Wales. Black feathers on the back have green margins. Rump is pale green; P. e. elecica, northeast New South Wales and southeast Queensland. In the male the black feathers on the back have golden-yellow margins, and greenish-yellow in the female. The rump is bluish-green. This subspecies is also called the golden-mantled rosella, often abbreviated to GMR. P. e. diemenensis, eastern Tasmania. White cheek patches are larger and the red on the head is darker.
The eastern rosella is 30 cm long. It has a red head and white cheeks. The beak is white and the irises are brown. The upper breast is red and the lower breast is yellow fading to pale green over the abdomen. The feathers of the back and shoulders are black, and have yellowish or greenish margins giving rise to a scalloped appearance that varies slightly between the subspecies and the sexes. The wings and lateral tail feathers are bluish while the tail is dark green. The legs are grey. The female is similar to the male though duller in colouration and has an underwing stripe, which is not present in the adult male. Juveniles are duller than females and have an underwing stripe.
The diet of eastern rosellas mainly consists of fruit, seeds, flowers and insects. Eastern rosellas usually breed in spring but if needed summer as well. They can have 2-9 eggs. In the wild their breeding hollow is 1m deep and 30m high up a tree. The sign the eastern rosella mostly shows that they would be breeding is that they give food to each other.
This post is part of the Saturday Critters meme,
and also part of the Camera Critters meme,
and also part of the I'd Rather Be Birdin' meme.
Hello, these are beautiful birds. Gorgeous photos. Thank you so much for linking up and sharing your post. Happy Saturday, enjoy your day and weekend. PS, thank you for visit and commenting on my post.
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