ON THE WING
As a fiery sun vanished behind the palm trees bordering Luna Park in Melbourne, rainbow lorikeets were putting on an equally spectacular show, as they always do at sunset.
Noisy and pushy, they jostled for position in prime roosting sites among the fronds, oblivious to mayhem on a slightly different scale taking place just below them as the lively and eccentric St Kilda residents positioned themselves for the evening that lay ahead.
I love Acland St with its cake shops by day and bars and restaurants by night. I like its verve and colour, and its edginess along darkened alleys off the main drag.
And I love a bird species that has somehow learnt the art of survival beyond the law of nature. The lorikeets, along with a few other species like the noisy miner and raven, have successfully migrated from the wild world to that of mankind.
The rainbow lorikeet, so delicate of body, has forsaken the fruits of the forest to go in search of the fruits of suburbia.
Where once they ranged far and wide in search of flowering gums, the lorikeets have learnt of the rich pickings to be had among the exotic, introduced plant species that now grace our cities.
If metropolitan Australia needs an avian symbol, the rainbow lorikeet is it.
I’ve always been interested in birds that make their homes in urban areas, but this study is difficult in Hobart because the “bush” is never far from the CBD. And, in turn, birds that normally might be associated with country areas fly to and fro over the city, and within it. Tasmania is also lucky not to have the introduced scourge of south-east mainland cities, the Indian hill myna, which along Acland St clashes nightly with the lorikeets for prime real estate. I’m happy to report, from my observations, the lorikeets still manage to rule the roost after these skirmishes.
The first time I saw rainbow lorikeets, in Sydney after I had arrived in Australia two decades ago, I was struck by their beauty, the iridescent rainbow plumage, the orange beak and the orange eye.
I soon discovered they were not commonly found in Tasmania but, since those times, the lorikeets have finally made their presence felt here. Lorikeets brought to Tasmania and reared as aviary species have been released and are now posing a threat to our native birds. They are stealing the nesting hollows of our parrots, the green rosella and the swift parrot among them.
As nature’s born survivors, aggressive lorikeets do not take prisoners in their quest for dominance. It’s as if these belligerent birds were born for a city life, like many of the human folk along Acland St. It’s edgy and, along with the urban parrots, I feel at home there because I was born of the city myself.