Eastern Rosella

NAME:
Eng. Eastern Rosella
Lat. Platycercus e. Eximius

On the photo you can see a nice colors of eastern rosella parakeet parrot. The photo is taken from the mine's friend aviary.

ORIGIN: Central and the southern parts of New South Wales across Victoria and to the southeast of southern Australia including North Island and New Zealand.

PHYSICAL APPEARENCE: Eastern rosella is 30 cm (12 in) in length. The head, breast and the under-tail coverts are red; cheeks are white. The lower part of the breast is yellow blending into a yellow-green at the abdomen with dark edging. The lower part of the back is light green. Its wings are blue in various shades while wing coverts are blue with black edging. Its tail is green blue in the center with blue edging. The iris is dark brown. Its feet are green. Eastern Rosella sex is barely distinguishable. Females are usually smaller and of darker color.

Eastern Rosella parrot.

KEEPING AND CARE: Rosellas are considered to be neither talkers nor parrots that can be easily tamed. They belong to a middle-sized, decorative parrots that are famous for their great diversity in color. As pets they can be kept separately or in pairs.They do need a big cage. The recommended cage is of a minimal 60 cm (24 in) in height and length and 40 cm (16 in) in width so as to provide enough space for the birds to perform different movements. It is advisable to purchase a young bird that has been fed by hand, so one can have a tamed and socialized parrot. In order to tame these parrots, one has to devote more time and attention to them than to nimphas that also belong to middle-sized parrots. They rarely produce sounds like whistling except when courting or when disturbed. They enjoy bathing and thus must be provided with these facilities.

It is advisable to purchase a young rosella bird that has been fed by hand, so you can have a tamed and socialized parrot.

DIET: Food consists of mixed food like: yellow and white millet, speckled sunflower, canary grass seed, white sunflower, shelled oats, buckweat, hemp, flax and black seed. Minerals are given as a cuttle-bone or as an already prepared mineral supplement. Fruit and vegetables have to be included in their nutrition. Apple, carrot and a leaf of chicory or blade are their favourite sweets.

BREEDING EASTERN ROSELLA: Breeding of these parrots is not difficult and as long as one provides them with the minimal conditions, they are very likely to become pregnant. The aviary is built of two parts: closed winter and opened summer part which has enough branches for standing. The aviary should be 2.3x2x0.7m (90x80x28 in).

Breeding of eastern rosellas parrots is not difficult. On the picture up, you can see nest which has some eggs inside.

Breeding season begins in April. During breeding season, the male is prone to be aggressive towards the female. If the male is too aggressive he should be withheld from breeding as he may even kill a female during breeding season. The nest for these parrots is unusual. Its dimensions are 25 cm (10 in) in height and width and the length is 60 cm (24 in). Females clutch 5-7 eggs and incubation time is 20-21 days. During that time the male feeds the female in a nest and she leaves it only in the case of danger. The young stay in the nest 35 days and start to be independent after 14 days of leaving the nest. There are two breedings in one year.

Baby eastern rosellas in nest box. Construction of nest is very simple. Use recommended dimensions as I wrote.

Closer look at babies of eastern rosella. For big format photos look at our pictures section.

INTERESTING FACTS: Eastern Rosellas live span in average is between 15 and 20 years, but there have been examples where rosellas have been known to live 30 years or more.
It is difficult for them to imitate human speech, but they are excellent imitators of whistling.
They are the most colorful species of parrot.

Nice blue-grey mutation of eastern rosella bird.