Rhonda Bracey: At Random

Like many parts of Western Australia, my local shopping centre’s surrounding parkland is overrun with Little Corellas. They are a very social, very noisy native bird, and they are also very destructive, digging up lawns and making small sand hollows in the lawn as a result, pecking at wood and anything else that intrigues them, and flocking in huge numbers. They are super cute as long as it’s not your property they’re attacking 😉

On a very hot day last week I was walking back to my car in the local shopping centre’s car park when I spotted this pair. They had moved away from the main flock and were pecking away at the old tree stump/pole under the shade of the peppermint tree. They weren’t afraid of me at all and I was able to get within a metre of them to take these photos with my phone. At one stage the one on the left put its foot on the back of the other one as if to hold it in position so it didn’t fall off the narrow perch, or if you want to get all anthropomorphic, it looked like one had it’s arm over the other one’s shoulders, just like good friends do 😉

Perhaps they were a mating pair — it seems they pair for life: http://birdlife.org.au/bird-profile/little-corella

Update: This flock of Little Corellas has nearly decimated the main signage for the shopping centre. This signage was replaced less than 12 months’ ago, and these birds have attacked it with gusto the past couple of weeks. As a result, there are bits of styrofoam everywhere near the main doors to the shopping centre, and the sign is looking wrecked. Either the signage will have to be replaced with something more sturdy and less attractive to birds, or the corellas will have to go. I wonder which it will be….