SuperParrot Blog June 2024
Hello!
This month I have met lots of different parrots! I met the ‘Rainbow Lorikeets’ here at Paradise Park! There are around twenty different species of Rainbow Lorikeets in the world (it is hard to know exactly how many as very clever Scientists look at birds which are similar and discover that actually they are a different species due to their genes which is brilliant!). At Paradise Park, we have several ‘Rainbow Lorikeets’ including Green-naped, Red-collared, Forsten’s, Mitchell’s and Swainson’s lorikeet. If you look at the pictures below, you can see that they have similar but not completely the same colours and patterns.
Even though they do have differences, these Lorikeets have something in common – they love nectar! This sweet, sugary liquid is produced by flowers and, in the wild, the lorikeets go to flowering trees and plants. They also like to eat seeds, vegetables and fruit. Rainbow lorikeets have a fast metabolism (this is the chemical changes in a body which converts food into energy) so they like to snack all day to keep their energy up! It also means they poop a lot too! Their poop is quite liquid which is messy and nectar can attract insects so our Friends in Green (the Keepers) make sure their homes are cleaned often to keep the lorikeets happy and healthy! Rainbow Lorikeets have very special tongues which help them eat their liquid diet. They push their tongue out and tiny structures called ‘papillae’ at the tip of the tongue stand on end and soak up the tasty nectar. You can see how amazing their tongue is in this picture!
Rainbow lorikeets live in big flocks and make lots of noise! Their problems in the wild are that they can be trapped to be kept as pets, and habitat destruction (this means the loss of their forest homes). The Mitchell’s Lorikeet is particularly in danger of extinction in the wild as there are believed to be less than 10 now in their native Bali and Lombok.
Here at Paradise Park, our Friends in Green want to help conservation (this means looking after animals to keep them safe for the future) so they learned how to make sure the birds are happy (lovely homes, a tasty, home-made diet, company and nestboxes for breeding pairs). This has been a brilliant success and the Mitchell Lorikeet’s at Paradise Park have chicks several times a year. Sometimes birds are loaned to other zoos and they join in the conservation breeding programme, which means more Mitchell Lorikeets which is fantastic! Here at Paradise Park there are around fifty Mitchell’s Lorikeet as well as the Swainson’s, green-naped, red-collared and Forsten’s!
If you would like to come meet some of these beautiful parrots, you can visit Paradise Park, buy little pots of delicious nectar and feed them! Check out some of the happy birds and humans enjoying Lorikeet Feeding time. This happens in the summer season when it isn’t too wet or windy. See the daily events page for details of timing and the other daily events.
I have had such a fun (and noisy!) time visiting these gorgeous birds! Hopefully you can come see them soon too!
Until next time…
SuperParrot Xx
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