Hi!!!
Today, I’m going to be blogging about a very colourful, quirky, and intelligent bird. I’ve seen them multiple times, near my house, in zoos and sanctuaries, and even fed one once! In my opinion, it’s Australia’s cutest and most brightly coloured bird… And it’s called the rainbow lorikeet!!
I went to a sanctuary and met one of their cheekiest lorikeets, and his name was Skittles. I had a bowl full of fruit in one hand, a tiny bottle of honey in the other, and Skittles immediately flew onto my arm, (his claws were very sharp, it really hurt by the way,) his tiny sharp claws gripping the sleeve of my t-shirt and started pecking and nibbling at the fruit. I managed to lure him somewhere else, and it was pretty fun. If you want to know more about this amazing bird, keep reading.
RAINBOW LORIKEETS
Rainbow lorikeets, are, well as the name suggests, multicolored birds that are smart, loud, and very attention seeking. They are mostly native to Australia and New Guinea. They are a protected species in Australia. While some other types of lorikeets are threatened, the rainbow lorikeets are not really in danger of extinction.
They will eat fruits, berries, nectar, and occassionally, small insects.
Unusually for birds, both male and female rainbow lorikeets are coloured brightly and it is very difficult to tell them apart. An interesting fact about them is that as they get older, their plumage, eye colour, and beak colour slightly change. That’s right! When they are younger, rainbow lorikeets have brown/black eyes and as they get older, they turn bright red or orange. Same with their beaks! When they are juvenile birds, they have dark reddish, maroon-black coloured beaks, and as they grow into adults, they slowly turn a much brighter red or orange. Their plumage or feathers get slightly brighter with age.
If you see a rainbow lorikeet in your backyard, don’t feed it any food! It needs a different diet with lots of nutrients that we don’t eat. Instead, just enjoy its colourful personality!
Thank you for reading and I will be back with a new animal next week.
Kreeti's Creatures 