The western rosella is the smallest of Australia’s six rosella species
It is also the most sexually dimorphic; it is not at all difficult to discern an adult western rosella’s gender – a marked contrast to other rosellas.
The male of the species is the more exuberantly-colourful, but the female’s more subtly-variegated plumage is at least as lovely.
(there are circa 19 rosella sub-species; there are differences of opinion on their precise number. The western rosella has two recognised sub-species)
Western rosellas’ primary diet is grass seed, gathered from the ground.
They eat many other things too, including non-native seeds, nuts, fruit, blossoms, insects and insect larvae.
Most western rosellas stay within a particular area, and nest in tree hollows.
I have often seen them described as “bold”, but in my experience western rosellas have usually proved rather more discreet/wary/shy than are most other parrots.
By parrot standards, they are remarkably quiet.
In the wild, they occur only in southwest Western Australia.
As is true of many birds, the very same kind – even the very same individual – can look remarkably different from one photo to another.
Among the reasons:
The sun is brightly shining, or it is not; the bird is or is not brightly lit.
On many birds, the very same feather can look quite different in colour and intensity, depending on that feather’s orientation in relation to the sun, and to the human observer.
Juveniles often look remarkably different from adults.
An adult’s appearance can vary hugely, depending on its gender, and whether it is or is not currently clad in “breeding season” plumage.
A side-on view, a head-on view, an aerial view, and a “looking up” view of the same individual at the same time – especially if it is a colourful species, in breeding mode, with variegated plumage – can yield four different impressions of the nature of that individual’s colouration.
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