Psittaculidae
Rainbow Lorikeet
Trichoglossus moluccanus
The Nectar Flame
- Length
- 28 cm
- Wingspan
- 44 cm
- Family
- Psittaculidae
Identification
A compact, electric parrot: cobalt-blue head, lime nape, orange-red breast, green wings, and a coral bill. In a flowering street they look almost invented. The brush tongue is the hidden tool — this is a nectar specialist wearing carnival clothes.
Distinctive marks
- Blue head, red-orange breast
- Green wings and back
- Coral-red bill
- Rapid, scissoring flight
- Always in pairs or gangs
Behaviour & ecology
Nomadic followers of blossom. They quarrel in grevilleas, sleep in loud communal roosts, and treat a flowering ironbark like a festival. Competition with other honeyeaters is brisk.
Voice
A metallic rolling screech in flight; a busy chatter while feeding.
On the Peninsula
Now one of the commonest suburban parrots from Melbourne to the Peninsula, riding planted grevilleas and street eucalypts.
Season
Whenever something is in flower — which, in a planted suburb, is most of the year.
Diet
Nectar, pollen, fruit, and the odd insect.
Conservation
Secure and increasing in cities.
Lore & resonance
They are proof that the yard is a reef. When the grevillea lights, the air fills with small flames that argue in a language of sugar.
If you would attract them
Plant grevillea, banksia, correa, and eucalypt. Never put out bread or honey-water; it ferments and harms. Fresh water is the only offering that stays kind.
