Cacatuidae
Galah
Eolophus roseicapilla
The Rose Storm
- Length
- 35 cm
- Wingspan
- 75 cm
- Family
- Cacatuidae
Identification
A cockatoo of dusty rose and pearl grey: pink face, breast and belly, grey back and wings, a pale crest that lifts when the bird is considering you. In a wheeling flock they are a weather system.
Distinctive marks
- Rose-pink underparts
- Grey back and wings
- Pale, raisable crest
- Pale bill
- Rolling, playful flight
Behaviour & ecology
Flocks feed on the ground for seed, then erupt in clownish aerial play. They nest in hollows and will inspect chimneys and streetlights. The clowning is real; so is the pair bond underneath it.
Voice
A thin, metallic 'chit' in flight and a harsher screech when alarmed.
On the Peninsula
Farmland, ovals, and increasingly the suburban Peninsula, especially where seed and hollows coincide.
Season
Year-round. Winter flocks on ovals are a gift.
Diet
Seeds of grasses and crops, some insect larvae, and the odd bulb.
Conservation
Secure and expanding south and east.
Lore & resonance
A galah is rose-coloured proof that seriousness is optional. Then the same bird will sit a hollow for weeks, quiet as dust, and raise a chick the colour of dawn.
If you would attract them
Open ground with native grasses, a high dead limb, and no rodenticide in the shed. They will invent the rest of the circus.
